Jackie Leven
Writing and memories about Jackie. With excerpts, facsimiles and links to the sources.
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Kris Needs' first encounter with Doll by Doll, hurriedly slotted into the issue: while Steve Hillage plays the Friars Club, he sees the band in front of 40 to 50 people in the back room of a pub in Aylesbury that presents up-and-coming bands on Wednesdays as the “Acne Club”.
EnglishWeb archive
One-page Record Mirror profile in which Chris Westwood – later the band's most important champion at Record Mirror – introduces Doll by Doll ahead of the release of their debut.
EnglishOnline
The fan documentation of the John Peel shows (reconstructed from recorded tapes) lists, for 28 February 1979, the single “The Palace Of Love” by Doll by Doll (Automatic K17330) between Alan Libert's Parabola and the Glaxo Babies.
EnglishOnline
Major Doll by Doll piece by Kris Needs shortly before the release of the debut album Remember (23 March 1979), nine months after the first interview in ZigZag No. 85. Needs raves about the album, which was recorded live, apart from a few overdubs, at Wessex Studios with Bill Price, describes “Sleeping Par…
EnglishWeb archive
Trade-oriented short review of the debut (producers: Bill Price and the band): a disappointing album that stands out precisely for its lack of originality – nothing that hasn't been done before.
EnglishOnline
Chris Westwood's second major Record Mirror story, written on the spring 1979 tour after the release of “Remember”.
EnglishOnline
Excerpts from Kris Needs' report on the party for ZigZag's tenth anniversary at the Venue in London (June 1979).
EnglishWeb archive
Westwood's report on the Friday of the 1979 Reading Festival (24.08.1979, headliners The Police).
EnglishOnline
Live review of a concert at the Music Machine in London (autumn 1979). Westwood distinguishes Doll by Doll from other “expressionists”: the band do what they must, not what they want; their music of fear, violence and romance (“Butcher Boy”, “The Human Face”, “Palace of Love”) is communication rather than pose.
EnglishOnline
Contemporary review of the second album by Chris Westwood, which at the same time defends the debut: “Remember” was slated by form-obsessed critics although it was a very powerful record of disturbing honesty.
EnglishOnline
The fan tape “PM209” in the Peel wiki lists for the broadcast of 22 November 1979 “Teenage Lightning” by Doll by Doll (opening track of “Gypsy Blood”) alongside a Comsat Angels session, Errol Dunkley and the Dickies.
EnglishOnline
Contemporary review of the concert of 18.12.1979 at the Venue in London, at which U2, then barely known in England, played in support.
EnglishOnline
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Trade review of the third album (production Tom Newman/Jackie Leven): quite a U-turn for the band, who are now continuing their search for media acceptance at Magnet.
EnglishOnline
Two trade reviews in the same issue: the third album (producers: Tom Newman and Jackie Leven), the first on Magnet, offers rock with dreamy-romantic lyrics that provokes divided and at times heated reactions – you love it or hate it; some songs sound strangely old-fashioned at first, but grow on repeated listening; with tours and a single it could sell well. The single “Main Travelled Roads” (MAG 188): strong live band, dramatic ballad, pleasant effect, but without a hook that sticks. The gossip column mentions a party at the Venue for the band's Magnet signing.
EnglishOnline
Short live review of a Monday concert at the Venue in London in June 1981. Hayward wonders that the band, who held on to their own rock 'n' roll for so long, are now getting the “psychedelic” label.
EnglishOnline
Disappointed live review of the same Venue concert of June 1981 that Record Business (15.06.1981) reviewed benevolently.
EnglishOnline
One of the few US reviews of Doll by Doll, preserved as a transcript on the author's site.
EnglishOnline
Report on Doll by Doll's last London concert on a Friday evening at the Marquee (January 1983), in front of many of the faithful from the “optimistic days of Automatic”.
EnglishOnline
Music Week short review of the “ex-Doll-By-Doll singer's” second solo single: a big, rousing sound, emotional vocals and acoustic guitar building to a loud chorus with full choir and brass; thanks to Geoff Emerick's big production, the single should get plenty of airplay.
EnglishOnline
The former Marillion singer Fish writes in the first person about his friendship with Leven and about the CORE Trust.
EnglishWeb archive
Stuart Maconie presents the third, self-titled Doll by Doll album (Magnet 1981) as his personal “lost album”: uninfluential and barely heard, but loved by him.
EnglishWeb archive
Positive short review of the solo debut: Leven spent the last decade more with the withdrawal treatment of fellow musicians (CORE Trust) than with his career – credit to him for that, especially as the album is bigger than most of what is on the market.
NorwegianFree to read
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anonymous (probably Johnny Andreassen) · Fremtiden (Drammen) · 9 April 1994 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC 4.0
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Johnny Andreassen · Fremtiden (Drammen) · 20 August 1994 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC 4.0
Belated review of the solo debut in the Bodø newspaper: in the early 80s Leven led Doll by Doll, a critically praised but commercially unsuccessful soul-rock band; Mike Scott as helper shows the direction.
NorwegianFree to read
By its own account the first and only Norwegian newspaper interview with Leven after his comeback (Fremtiden 03.05.1995).
NorwegianFree to read
Long fanzine interview, conducted backstage at the Pfefferberg in Berlin on 10.03.1995, shortly before Leven introduced Andy White; on tour with keyboard player James Hallawell for the EP with “I Say A Little Prayer”.
EnglishWeb archive
Interview on the day of his concert at the Rockefeller, Oslo, as part of a “magical week” on the theme of healing.
NorwegianFree to read
Positive review of the solo concert at Garage on Thursday (27.04.1995): Leven can hold an audience alone with an acoustic guitar, you want to tie him down so he keeps playing; despite a break of almost twelve years he keeps up a high standard, and the voice makes the attack hard to believe.
NorwegianFree to read
Report on the solo concert in the “magical week” at the Rockefeller, Oslo – according to Andreassen Leven's first visit to Norway in over ten years.
NorwegianFree to read
Feature in the Toronto free culture paper on the North American release of The Mystery Of Love Is Greater Than The Mystery Of Death (True North/MCA), based on a telephone interview with Leven in London.
EnglishWeb archive
Short review: the former Doll by Doll singer presents a successor to the previous year's “pearl”; for the uninitiated Leven is a cross between Bryan Ferry and Van Morrison and proves once again what a good singer he is.
NorwegianFree to read
Positive review: big boys who cry, mothers who took their own lives, but also blessed moments – the songs are about personal growth, the basic mood is not depressing but heart-warming, soothing, almost spiritual.
NorwegianFree to read
Praising review despite an ironic headline (“little noise”): the album is doomed to be a critics' darling and will hardly sell much, but is gloriously melancholy, full of catchy melodies and free of pop clichés.
NorwegianFree to read
Reserved short review in the “Speilet” column: Forbidden Songs of the Dying West (Amigo) is a collection of atmospheric, slightly pompous songs, a three-part “concept album” with Ireland as its starting point.
NorwegianFree to read
Early German-language interview profile from the time of “Forbidden Songs of the Dying West” (1995), written by Doebeling, long-standing Leven champion at the German Rolling Stone, after a visit to Argyll at Loch Feochan.
GermanOnline
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anonymous · Bergensavisen · 24 April 1995 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Review in the Oslo city magazine: in the mid-1980s Doll by Doll had a small, enthusiastic Norwegian following, and Grand Passion was the high point.
NorwegianFree to read
Early profile from the first Cooking Vinyl decade. Paul Du Noyer visits Leven at the CORE Trust near the Marylebone Road, where a portrait of the Princess of Wales hangs in reception, and introduces the former “psyche-punk” singer as co-founder of the addiction charity and British spokesman of Robert Bly's Men's Movement.
EnglishOnline
Conversation held in Oslo by the NTB/Arbeiderbladet critic Haakon Larsen on the occasion of *The Argyll Cycle Vol.
NorwegianFree to read
Positive short review: The Argyll Cycle is conceived as a two-record set, all songs written in Scotland, where Leven lived 1985–90 after his heroin period; some pieces have already been released.
NorwegianFree to read
Double page by the Fremtiden music journalist Johnny Andreassen, who had already conducted the interview with Leven in 1995.
NorwegianFree to read
Hymnic review: an album that captivates from the first moment, a masterpiece without a weak melody, “only pearls”; it even surpasses The Mystery of Love.
NorwegianFree to read
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anonymous · Jærbladet (Bryne) · 14 February 1996 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
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Bård Ose · Bergensavisen · 9 March 1996 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
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Helge Matland · Tromsø · 27 April 1996 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
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anonymous · Bergensavisen · 4 May 1996 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
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Morten Brunslid · Moss Avis · 14 June 1996 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Enthusiastic report on a solo concert in the small, sold-out Tower Theatre in Winchester at the time of Fairytales For Hardmen.
EnglishWeb archive
Long conversation over Guinness on the eve of Leven's debut at the Royal Festival Hall as support for Bruce Cockburn (March 1997), shortly before Fairytales For Hardmen.
EnglishWeb archive
Music column reviewing the new album from the Rolf Jacobsen angle: Jacobsen's “Solsikke” closes Fairy Tales for Hard Men in Robert Bly's almost literal translation “Sunflower”, recited over a discreet rhythm.
NorwegianFree to read
Major interview on the day the tour starts in Oslo. Leven says Robert Bly stays with him when he comes to Britain; then they sit up for a week exchanging poems and life experience, and every time Bly has his “Norwegian night” – that is how he came to appreciate Rolf Jacobsen.
NorwegianFree to read
Positive review: after the lost years of intoxication Leven has a lot to say; titles such as “Boy Trapped in a Man”, “Extremely Violent Man”, “Fear of Women” and “Sexual Danger” show that he is wrestling with the male role.
NorwegianFree to read
Benevolent review with a rating of 5 (out of 6): Leven has learned from his mistakes, and on the album a “knowing man” speaks in small novellas about subjects men hardly talk about, without a raised finger or sentimentality.
NorwegianFree to read
Enthusiastic review of the night concert (23:00–2:00) at Blå Rock Café on 06.04.1997 in front of about a hundred listeners: Leven on a stool next to the jukebox, guitar and stamping foot as percussion, guitar playing reaching as far as hints of flamenco.
NorwegianFree to read
Positive review that starts from the cover (Peter Howson's painting “The Bodybuilder”): a hard man who wants respect from men and love from a woman who never comes.
NorwegianFree to read
Preliminary interview ahead of the first Bodø concert (Den Siste Glæde, Sunday 13.04.1997) on the music page, alongside a short review of Fairytales for Hard Men (“folksanger i stor-format”: raw, hard and yet warm and humorous; you need strong nerves to take the whole album in one go).
NorwegianFree to read
Positive review of the solo concert at a well-attended Garage on Thursday (10.04.1997): Leven sits on a monitor rather than on the chair and, between poetic minor-key ballads, tells coarse, at times hysterically funny stories; the recurring themes are boys who become hard men, images from the Scottish Highlands and love under poor conditions. Played were, among others, “Stranger on the Square” and “Young Male Suicide Blessed by Invisible Woman”. Leven remarks that the audience is much quieter than last time; he announces his return with Doll by Doll in late summer and names the sister album “Injured Women: The Jackie Leven Report”.
NorwegianFree to read
Very positive review of the concert at Præstengbrygga, Kabelvåg, on Saturday (12.04.1997) before around 120 guests, of whom, by the author's estimate, only about 20 had known Leven beforehand.
NorwegianFree to read
Mixed-to-positive review of the two-hour solo concert at Sumaloftet, Finnsnes, on Friday (11.04.1997) before a good hundred listeners; Leven opened with a coarse joke.
NorwegianFree to read
Positive review of Leven's first concert in Bodø (Den Siste Glæde, Sunday 13.04.1997, around 150 listeners, just under two hours).
NorwegianFree to read
Mostly positive review of the same Bodø concert (13.04.1997, a good 150 visitors): reflective and atmospheric, solo with acoustic guitar, most songs from the new album; Leven in the Dylan songwriter tradition, but with a form of his own (sitar-like guitar turns, drum solos on the body of the guitar, throaty singing, a whistled western theme à la Sergio Leone – unfortunately in at least three songs). In the middle of the set one of the most beautiful ballads the venue has heard; at times long-winded. Stage patter: he could go back to the hotel for the porn channel, wanted to open “Jackie Leven's Scottish Bastard Pub” in Bodø; plus a minibar anecdote from Hamburg. At the end he threatened to come back next year.
NorwegianFree to read
Lukewarm review in Nynorsk: fairy tales played a greater role in pre-Christian times; Leven tells of men and women who are supposed to emulate hard role models and combines this with pretty, melancholy folk-rock tones.
NorwegianFree to read
Report on Leven's solo concert at the basement club Garage in Bergen on 10.04.1997, combined with quotations from conversation.
EnglishWeb archive
Positive review of the first Doll by Doll concert in 15 years at the basement club Garage: Leven joked that they were four “living dolls”; the band “came into its own”, cheers at every little gesture, Leven with a plastic beer cup.
NorwegianFree to read
Short review of the CD edition of Control as a “funny curiosity” for the many who have meanwhile become attached to the Celtic soul of Leven and Doll by Doll.
NorwegianFree to read
Interview by the German Van Morrison fan Ulrich Begemeier for the British Van Morrison newsletter, conducted on 22.09.1997 at the Sinkkasten in Frankfurt am Main (Morrison once played there as “Storyville” with the Monarchs).
EnglishWeb archive
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anonymous · Haugesunds Avis · 26 March 1997 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
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Ole-P. Refsahl · Lofotposten (Svolvær) · 11 April 1997 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
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Bård Ose · Bergensavisen · 28 August 1997 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Short label interview on Night Lilies: Leven explains the album title as a memory of a smell that takes him back to his 17th year, and the cover (Ferdinand Keller's homage to Böcklin's “Isle of the Dead”).
EnglishWeb archive
Half-page portrait ahead of Leven's tour of northern Norway in March 1998, largely assembled from British interviews (Q, Mojo) and memories of the Tromsø concert in 1997.
NorwegianFree to read
Conversation on the day of the concert in Tromsø (his third appearance there within two years). Leven says Tromsø is a beautiful city in which to be lonely; loneliness is one of his themes.
NorwegianFree to read
A panning of the audience, not of the artist: at the second Kabelvåg concert (Præstengbrygga, Saturday 14.03.1998) the great majority had come to talk.
NorwegianFree to read
The group describes itself as a mailing list about the “life, work and times” of Jackie Leven, his artistic influences, his earlier work as John St. Field and with Doll by Doll; it spreads news about concerts and records and permits a “limited exchange of mp3's” in the “Files” section.
EnglishWeb archive
Preview of Leven's first Australian tour (July 1998) with a telephone interview. Leven looks forward to the country, holds out the prospect of a return with his band The Celtic Soul Men to the Womadelaide festival in February, and explains his greater popularity in Europe by saying that he went to Berlin, Madrid and South America when young and lost touch with Britain.
EnglishWeb archive
Interview on the release of Night Lilies (mistakenly “Night Lines” in the standfirst), which Leven describes as emotional songs in a rocky wrapping.
NorwegianFree to read
Leven has become a kind of “Norgesvenn”; he is releasing his fourth album in four years and is coming in October with a full band for the first time.
NorwegianOnline
NTB Pluss interview conducted in Oslo on Night Lilies. The key words of the album are memory and remembrance: how with age one forgets and falsifies memories, until a smell, a taste or a sound suddenly brings them back.
NorwegianFree to read
Youth-pages interview shortly before the release of Night Lilies (Monday 14.09.). Friestad gives Leven's place of residence as the small town of Titchfield between Southampton and Portsmouth.
NorwegianFree to read
Music page by Johnny Andreassen (formerly Fremtiden) with an interview on the sofa at the Hotel Savoy and a short review.
NorwegianFree to read
Very positive review: smell can evoke time and place even more strongly than music; Leven let himself be inspired by the scent of the night lilies, which by his own account shaped his life.
NorwegianOnline
Positive review: Leven, former singer of the “semi-legendary” Doll by Doll and ex-junkie, has fought his way back after “the biggest helping of bad luck in history”; Fairy Tales brought him deserved success.
NorwegianFree to read
Positive short review of the “Scottish friend of Bergen”: the title track opens, with a Dylan feel, a gloriously melancholy record in the line of the earlier solo albums; with his paws firmly in British folk music, Leven tells stories that cut through the skin, the airy atmosphere gives a cool dreamlike feeling, and he never provokes with boorishness. Music for late autumn evenings, preferably with Leven's own whisky in the glass, when you want to find out what went wrong – “Jackie Leven knows the answer”.
NorwegianFree to read
Mixed review: Leven again wanders dark paths in the Scottish Highlands and makes of them melodious, poetic rock with folk elements, airily arranged and rich in detail; the themes are betrayal and lost or won love, this time with memories that catch up with you.
NorwegianFree to read
Slightly disappointed review by the same reviewer who had celebrated The Argyll Cycle in 1996: production gleaming, song material good, but signs of stagnation – where Leven previously renewed himself in details, this time it follows familiar paths too much, one constantly has the feeling of having heard it all before.
NorwegianFree to read
Enthusiastic review of the third Kabelvåg concert (Præstengbrygga, Wednesday 21.10.1998, 80 listeners), written twelve hours afterwards.
NorwegianFree to read
Report on the Bodø concert of Thursday (22.10.1998) from the point of view of the Bodø fan Thor Arne Brekke (36), who was experiencing his third Leven concert.
NorwegianFree to read
A scolding of the audience over the concert at Den Siste Glæde on Thursday (22.10.1998, approx. 60 visitors, admission 60 kroner): about ten bellowing young men reduced Leven to background music at his own concert; the critic would have understood if Leven had sent them to hell, as Ole Paus once did, and misses any intervention by the staff. Despite the noise, Leven put his songs across with force and nerve and did his work professionally.
NorwegianFree to read
Conversation after Leven's course on “guitar-based songwriting” for local musicians at Hagstrøm (Ole Blues with Norsk Musikkråd).
NorwegianFree to read
Short box on the day of the concert: Leven names Van Morrison, Lou Reed and Neil Young as important influences – “Madame George” has an incredibly vivid text, Morrison has become less interesting over the years, Reed's great period runs from Transformer to Berlin.
NorwegianFree to read
Top rating (5 out of 5) in the Finnish music magazine, issue 11/1998, put online (the website's dates are contradictory: 28.07.2007 in the artist list, 17.10.2012 in the article).
FinnishOnline
The reviewer, who had experienced Leven live in Kabelvåg (cf. her review of 23.10.1998), finds the album decent, but not as compelling as the solo artist with a “tired acoustic guitar”: with several musicians, additional voices and a tidier concept the atmosphere is different – Scottish blue tradition, “pub pop” and solid quality, good for dark December evenings. She prefers Leven alone with stories, singing and guitar.
NorwegianFree to read
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JEF · Natt & Dag (Oslo) · 1998 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
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Rune Westengen · Romerikes Blad (Lillestrøm) · 30 September 1998 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
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Frank Johnsen · Bergensavisen · 1 November 1998 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
A good 21 minutes of studio conversation with two live pieces, broadcast in Steve G. Mileham's programme “Brain Massage” on 3PBS FM Melbourne; the presenter uploaded the recording in 2022 under his stage name Owlsley Burroughs.
EnglishOnline
The daily programme guide announces “Roxy Bar” on TMC2 at 8.30 pm with Jackie Leven, Puertorico, Carmen Consoli and Negrita.
ItalianOnline
Radio Bremen recorded Leven's solo performance at the Bremen music club “Moments” on 27 May 1999; MIG released it in 2024 as CD 1–2 of the box “Live Or Die – Live In Bremen 1999 & 2004” (“recorded by the broadcaster in the usual excellent sound quality”).
EnglishOnline
Short, benevolent record review: a predominantly melancholy, resigned mood lies over the album.
NorwegianFree to read
Leven stays true to himself on the new album: emotionally charged songs about men, women and the great loneliness afterwards, opened by Phil Spector's “You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'”.
NorwegianFree to read
Large portrait on the release of Defending Ancient Springs, Leven's sixth solo album for Cooking Vinyl, which McCormick considers perhaps his best.
EnglishWeb archive
Short review with a punchline: one should learn to skip track 1 by programming, because the opening version of “You've Lost That Loving Feeling” (with David Thomas) is bland.
EnglishWeb archive
Positive review from Bodø, where Leven is “topical” (concert announcement). Like Mike Scott and Van Morrison, Leven stands in the field of tension between American rock music and the folk music of the British Isles, without resembling either of the more famous ones.
NorwegianFree to read
Benevolent review: the little-known Scot presents his 18th album; the poetry lover writes darkly, simply and strikingly about love and misery, musically somewhere between folk, country and blues.
NorwegianFree to read
Full-page portrait on the release of Defending Ancient Springs, according to a note at the end based on a text by Kjell Haglund in the magazine Pop (no. 24/1997).
NorwegianFree to read
Music page with a review and biographical boxes. The review is predominantly positive (folk music masterfully interwoven with poetic lyrics, calm sound), but criticises two pieces: “Keys to the Forest” is too heavy-hearted, the opening cover “You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'” simply ugly.
NorwegianFree to read
First of five Gaesteliste interviews by Ullrich Maurer with Leven, on the release of “Defending Ancient Springs” (2000).
GermanOnline
Preview of the concert the same evening at Den Stundesløse (“Stundik'en”) with an interview. Leven (49) says he is lucky: nobody steers him, he is with a small company that lets him get on with it – quite unlike Van Morrison or Bob Dylan, who always have someone above them.
NorwegianFree to read
Telephone interview on the day of the concert in Tromsø (Blå Rock Café). Leven, with a cold, promises old songs (“easier to play”) alongside new ones.
NorwegianFree to read
Two texts by the same author on the same page. The review calls Leven a “crooked observer of life” with a rare talent; Defending Ancient Springs is rougher than usual, which is down to David Thomas (duet “You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'”, “Morbid Sky” with David Thomas and the Pale Orchestra…
NorwegianFree to read
Preview of Leven's fifth visit to Tromsø: he has, as probably the only international artist, mentioned Tromsø bars – first the Blå Rock Café, then the Grand bar – in acknowledgements on record sleeves.
NorwegianFree to read
Positive review of the solo concert at Den Stundesløse (01.03.2000): Leven had a stage authority that surpassed most singer-songwriters – with a “God-given” voice, acoustic guitar, a foot that kept time (microphone at foot level) and a loose tongue.
NorwegianFree to read
Feyer reviews the album as a meeting of two wilful characters (Leven and David Thomas, who met on the “Mirror Man” project at the Queen Elizabeth Hall).
GermanOnline
Portrait distributed via the NTB Pluss agency at the start of the tour. The “friend of Norway” sees himself above all as a poet.
NorwegianFree to read
Review of the concert at Blå Rock Café on 02.03.2000: Leven was by turns hilariously funny – a coarse hotel-room anecdote in place of a television appearance – and tearfully sentimental, in sharp contrast to the poetry of his songs.
NorwegianFree to read
Positive review of the solo concert on 02.03.2000 at Blå Rock Café: a “radiantly good-humoured” Leven with heartfelt performances of old and new songs, linked by witty, sly stories; an intimate, quiet atmosphere, disturbed only by one drunk.
NorwegianFree to read
Leven has by now become a “friend of Norway” with a fabulous voice and a love of storytelling, somewhere between Celtic music, rock and folk.
NorwegianFree to read
Review of the concert at the “Zeche” in Bochum in March 2000 by Bernd Berke, then arts editor of the Westfälische Rundschau (Dortmund); the text is in the archive of his blog Revierpassagen (archive texts from 1974).
GermanOnline
In the “I arkiv” column, Tore Bø recommends the 1995 album: Defending Ancient Springs is, for him, the best album of the year, and the recent Bergen concert was his first Leven concert – a “middle-aged heavyset man in Harry clothes” alone with a guitar, who hit him straight in the soul.
NorwegianFree to read
Australian review on the release there of Defending Ancient Springs: “Scottish new wave folk meets Cleveland post punk”.
EnglishWeb archive
Enthusiastic fan retrospective on the second Doll by Doll album (1979). Furgess recalls a strange Melody Maker interview from 1979 in which Leven admitted heavy LSD use in the band and claimed to hear voices and communicate with the dead – the reason he bought Remember.
EnglishOnline
Review of an evening of songs with Leven, Andy White and Michael Weston King at the Purcell Room. Martin pans King (“borderline pomposity”) and finds White harmless; Leven, by contrast, is a huge talent.
EnglishWeb archive
Announcement of the duo UbuDoll (Leven and David Thomas) for 23 November at the Garage club in Bergen; the name refers to Pere Ubu and Doll by Doll.
NorwegianFree to read
Preview of the UbuDoll concert on 23.11.2000 at Garage, according to the paper their third concert together.
NorwegianFree to read
Preview of UbuDoll's Oslo appearance on 24.11.2000, at its core a conversation with David Thomas.
NorwegianFree to read
Review of the UbuDoll concert on Thursday, 23.11.2000, at Garage (half full): a quiet, bittersweet, comic “cuddle hour”.
NorwegianFree to read
Stener-Andersen describes an overwhelming, nearly two-hour performance by Leven and David Thomas as UbuDoll at John Dee in Oslo.
NorwegianOnline
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anonymous · Drammens Tidende · 29 January 2000 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
The fan site's “Unofficial Jackie Leven guestbook” began on 01.01.2001 with a test entry by the webmaster (“PT”, Italy) and collected almost 100 entries by the end of 2001.
EnglishWeb archive
The double review sets Jimmy Mac Carthy's “Lorraine” against Leven's “The Right To Remain Silent”.
EnglishOnline
Interview in a London pub (“Railway Tavern”) a few days before the release of Creatures of Light and Darkness (3 July 2001), which Martin counts as the 21st album of a 30-year career.
EnglishWeb archive
Italian review (mark 8) with a biographical introduction (Fife, his mother's blues, Control as John St. Field, Doll by Doll, Charisma singles 1983, mugging, separation, heroin, return in the late 80s).
ItalianWeb archive
Leven as a “hounded Iron John and king of the restless”: a calm, coherently produced album with more detached lyrics, including memories of his late father (“My Spanish Dad”, “Rainy Day Bergen Women”) and “Exit Wounds” with a quotation from Elizabeth I. Praise for the songwriting, mockery of “art poser” David Thomas…
GermanOnline
Four stars: Sweeting praises the control with which Leven, on his seventh Cooking Vinyl album, shapes difficult, dark songs into a whole; behind the artful surfaces, fierce emotions rage.
EnglishOnline
Disappointed review by a self-declared admirer: after a longer appreciation of Leven's presence and music (large parts taken verbatim from Matland's concert review of 04.03.2000), it says Creatures of Light and Darkness is more heavily arranged than before; the overweight instrumentation…
NorwegianFree to read
Short, very favourable review: Leven has lived life – as leader of the “legendary punk group” Doll by Doll, then heroin as a painkiller after a brutal mugging – but got back on his feet, fortunately for everyone who appreciates tradition-rooted British rock with good lyrics.
NorwegianFree to read
Leven, frontman of Doll by Doll from 1977 to 1983, has come back stronger than ever after violence and drug problems, an original artist with something on his mind.
NorwegianFree to read
Interview on “Creatures of Light and Darkness” (2001). To begin with: Leven has his own whisky brand, “Leven's Lament”; he says a company called MacDuff produces it, and the label shows a Scottish and an English soldier from the last war as an image of a changing Scotland.
GermanOnline
Positive review: the “boss of the legendary Doll by Doll” has again delivered a solid album; in phrasing and approach he recalls Van Morrison, but loves dramatic effects (slamming doors, trickling rain, cheering).
NorwegianFree to read
Conversation over a pint at Marylebone station. Aizlewood begins with Leven's annual ritual: every spring he travels with a sleeping bag, a few books and little money to a randomly chosen country station and sets off walking to walk off his aggression.
EnglishOnline
Conversation before the 2001 Norway tour (last updated online in 2010). Leven says his youth was marked by trouble in a rough environment, which is why he left Scotland; Bergen was the first city outside Britain in which he lived, and a photo from his young Bergen days hangs at his mother's.
NorwegianOnline
Mixed review: after his comeback Leven discharged ten years of pent-up writing in albums, singles and EPs, somewhere between Van Morrison and a “Celtic Henry Rollins”.
NorwegianFree to read
Short interview piece at the start of the Norway tour in September 2001. The hook is not the new album but Leven's own whisky: Grønneberg presents him as probably the first artist in the world with his own whisky label.
NorwegianOnline
Preview of the concert on 06.09.2001 at Den Stundesløse, where Leven's own whisky can also be bought at the bar.
NorwegianFree to read
Review of the concert on Tuesday, 04.09.2001, at Præstengbrygga in Kabelvåg in front of 110 spectators.
NorwegianFree to read
Reserved to negative review of the solo concert at Den Stundesløse (night of 07.09.2001, about two hours): Leven insisted on telling very long stories from his life; many tuned out, only the closest fans stayed attentive.
NorwegianFree to read
Enthusiastic review of the tour finale on Saturday, 08.09.2001, at Sting Nere: two hours, 16 songs, not a minute of slack; the Scot looked like a tramp and entertained like a king.
NorwegianFree to read
Positive short review: Leven always has the critics on his side because he is a tradition-bearer; Creatures is atmospheric, tradition-inspired music that demands listening and then gives a lot back.
NorwegianFree to read
Album review in the online magazine for the radio programme “Grenzwellen” (archive paths point to radio ffn) (entry of 18.09.2001).
GermanWeb archive
Longest interview in the website archive, conducted before a concert at Jim's Cafe in Colne (Lancashire) on the tour for Creatures of Light and Darkness.
EnglishWeb archive
Preview of Leven's Ireland tour in autumn 2001, written by Liam Carson (then at Lilliput Press, later founder of the Irish Language Literature Festival IMRAM) for the Irish Examiner and the Irish News.
EnglishWeb archive
Very positive review: Leven as an “omone scozzese” with a heavy past (Doll by Doll, mugging in London, heroin, founding of the CORE Trust) who, together with David Thomas, has found a refined passion.
ItalianOnline
Carter recommends the low-priced four-CD box as the best introduction to Leven's “Celtic Soul” of folk, rock and poetry.
EnglishWeb archive
Page 21
anonymous · Dagsavisen (Oslo) · 3 July 2001 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC 4.0
Around 60 entries. Fans thank him for the Christmas concert in Milford (December 2001, with praise for organiser Mick Nolan and the “Girls”) and for the live albums Greetings From Milford (“finally Main Travelled Roads on CD”) and Barefoot Days; people ask about Doll by Doll reissues a…
EnglishWeb archive
Doug Anderson, an English fan, accompanied Leven through Germany for two weeks in October 2001 as merchandiser – he got the job through a call in an email group.
EnglishOnline
Oldest Leven thread in the forum of the German Rolling Stone, 29 posts from August 2002 to March 2024 (two pages).
GermanOnline
Page 53–71
With well over 90 entries, 2003 is the strongest year of this guestbook. It accompanies Shining Brother Shining Sister (February 2003), which fans from Cornwall, France (a record dealer who wants to sell 200 copies), Kiel, Asker and Hamm (Radio Runde Hamm: “CD of the month”) celebrate; the radio DJ…
EnglishWeb archive
Hymnic short review: nobody sings as poetically about trains leaving dirty industrial towns in the rain, or about the romance of backyards in Stockholm, Bergen and Amsterdam (“My Philosophy”).
NorwegianFree to read
The Milan interview accompanies “Shining Brother Shining Sister”. Leven explains why he includes poems and reciting guests in his recordings.
ItalianOnline
Enthusiastic live review from the pub stage in Otley. Simpson summarises Leven's life story as he tells it (Doll by Doll, knife attack, heroin, founding of a support centre for addicts) and describes a “big, beautifully damaged” troubadour who alternates between vodka and lager.
EnglishOnline
Long interview on “Shining Brother Shining Sister” (2003). Leven explains the choice of guests who recite poems: David Thomas reads Rilke, Ron Sexsmith a poem by E. E. Cummings at the end of “My Philosophy”; you have to be careful about who you give which text to.
GermanOnline
Joint review of the new Cooking Vinyl albums by Richard Thompson (The Old Kit Bag) and Leven: both have made so many brilliant records that more of the same becomes a bit much, even if each is more than good in itself.
NorwegianFree to read
Positive review: Leven is one of those musicians without a commercial spotlight, however solidly they work; Van Morrison fans must be satisfied, except that Leven draws on Scottish rather than Irish tradition.
NorwegianFree to read
Review of Shining Brother, Shining Sister (Cooking Vinyl/VME, 66:50 min.) with guests such as David Thomas, Ron Sexsmith and Robert Bly.
NorwegianOnline
Report from the Cologne evening of the short tour with Midnight Choir and Richard Thompson, on which the three acts alternated the running order; Leven closed the evening with Michael Cosgrave on keyboards.
GermanOnline
Enthusiastic review: Leven has never made a bad album; with his 18th record for Cooking Vinyl he is in top form, perhaps better than he has been for a long time.
NorwegianFree to read
Preview of the concert on Sunday, 02.03.2003, at the Blå Rock Café; the opening (acknowledgements of Tromsø bars on record sleeves) is taken over from Matland's text of 2000.
NorwegianFree to read
Preview of two Bergen appearances: on 07.03.2003 at the small venue Madam Felle and on 08.03. (International Women's Day) at Bergen Landsfengsel.
NorwegianFree to read
Preview of the fifth Tromsø concert on Sunday, 02.03.2003. Egon Holstad (Blå Rock) calls his friend Leven “an incredible guy”, one of the best guitarists in the world, immensely authoritative on stage, self-deprecating and ruthlessly open; Leven is coming a day early in order to walk around in the snow in his kilt…
NorwegianFree to read
Review of the concert on Tuesday, 04.03.2003, at the Præstengbrygga in Kabelvåg before 50 people: a quiet, attentive audience; anyone who had expected the drive of the new album got a quiet, at times powerful version of soul, blues and rock “of the very best brand”.
NorwegianFree to read
Very positive review: after years of drug problems Leven seems to be staying on the “narrow path” and is more alert than ever; his slightly alternative “pop noir” works almost perfectly.
NorwegianFree to read
Report on Leven's hour-long concert on 08.03.2003 in the sports hall of Bergen prison, guarded by around ten officers; the night before he had played at Madam Felle.
NorwegianFree to read
Carter considers the album Leven's strongest since Night Lilies (1998), perhaps his best ever: Defending Ancient Springs and Creatures of Light and Darkness had contained only scattered classics.
EnglishWeb archive
A good five-minute edit of a conversation which, according to the on-screen caption, the Greek presenter Dimitris Antonopoulos conducted on 5 November 2003 for Kanaliena.gr or his programme “Rockzone”; the questions have been cut out, leaving only Leven's answers.
EnglishOnline
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anonymous · Hamar Dagblad · 15 February 2003 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC 4.0
Page 7
anonymous · Firda (Førde) · 10 June 2003 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Around 50 entries up to early 2005. One fan was at the evening with Ian Rankin in January 2004 and once saw Doll by Doll as the support act for John Otway and Hawkwind.
EnglishWeb archive
Enthusiastic review of the regular reissue of the live album from London's Twelve Bar Club, which in 1996 had appeared only in a small edition for fan club members.
DutchOnline
Short thread (7 posts, Jan./Feb. 2004) with the dates of the spring 2004 tour (24.03. Bonn Harmonie to 03.04. Vienna Chelsea, including Hamburg Knust, Kiel Räucherei, Northeim, Hannover, Frankfurt Sinkkasten, Munich Muffatcafé, Berlin Quasimodo, Dresden Starclub) and mixed memories of concerts:…
GermanOnline
Review of the Cooking Vinyl reissue of the earlier Haunted Valley live album. Maurer recommends it as “the calling card of Leven the performer”: relaxed, different versions of his own songs, a few cover versions (blues, Lou Reed, Van Morrison) and above all the funny stories between the songs.
GermanOnline
Enthusiastic review of the Cooking Vinyl edition of the solo live album For Peace Comes Dropping Slow: a gloriously relaxed concert recording, just Leven, acoustic guitar and foot rhythm on the guitar case.
NorwegianFree to read
A belated review which explicitly does not consider the album a masterpiece, but an open, many-voiced mosaic: guest names and text sources from Robert Bly, Rilke, Ron Sexsmith, Cummings, David Thomas, Sitwell, Neruda, Mandelstam and Ciaran Carson.
ItalianOnline
Long rating thread (83 posts, 2004–2020, six pages) in which forum users rate Leven albums with stars.
GermanOnline
Television recording by WDR at the Rockpalast festival “Crossroads” at the Bonn Harmonie (23–26 March 2004); Leven played on the last evening, 26 March 2004, with Kevin Foster (bass) and Michael Cosgrave (keyboards, vocals).
EnglishOnline
Three days after the Bonn Rockpalast appearance, Leven played with Michael Cosgrave in the Sendesaal of Radio Bremen; the recording was released in 2024 as CD 3–4 of “Live Or Die – Live In Bremen 1999 & 2004” (including Single Father, My Philosophy, Fly, Empty in Soho Square, A Little Voice in Space, Classic Nort…
EnglishOnline
Report and conversation on the evening “Twa Twisted Fifers” at the Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow (January 2004), at which Ian Rankin read his new short story “Jackie Leven Said” and Leven sang songs at suitable points, accompanied by Michael Cosgrave on keyboards.
EnglishOnline
Festival report from the Glitterhouse festival Orange Blossom Special. On Saturday (29.05.2004) Leven and Michael Cosgrave opened with quiet, elegiac ballads and stories, including “Single Father”; afterwards Leven played lead guitar in Michael Weston King's new band The Decent Men, with Cosgra…
GermanOnline
Review of the DVD from the Crossing Border Festival in The Hague (2003) with Leven, Michael Cosgrave, David Thomas, Ian Rankin and Ciaran Carson plus four interviews.
GermanOnline
Backstage conversation at the Crossing Border festival in The Hague, held on a Friday afternoon (from the context, 12.11.2004, Leven's second Crossing Border appearance), published on 23.11.2004. Dielemans describes a subdued mood: Leven drinks canned beer, stares at the just-released …
DutchOnline
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Geir Hovensjø · Østlendingen (Elverum) · 16 March 2004 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
122-minute concert film by the Dutch director Paul Hegeman, recorded at the Crossing Border Festival in The Hague in November 2003 (on 14.11.2003, according to Leven's column).
EnglishOnline
Preview with a telephone interview (“vel hjemme i England”) ahead of Leven's appearance closing the 2005 Working Class Hero festival in Drammen on Sunday, 1 May – according to the paper his first concert there in two years.
NorwegianFree to read
Major interview on the double album Jackie Leven Said with Ian Rankin, shortly before Leven's next visit to Norway.
NorwegianFree to read
Review of the double CD on which Ian Rankin reads his short story “Jackie Leven Said” and Leven, with Michael Cosgrave, illustrates it musically, supplemented by jointly chosen songs (including Bacharach's “Say A Little Prayer”).
GermanOnline
BA meets the “Bergensvenn” Leven at the start of a six-day stay in Bergen. Leven says (self-report) that a few months ago he was sitting in a street café in Beirut when, two blocks away, the car bomb exploded that killed the former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri; he w…
NorwegianFree to read
Friendly review of Jackie Leven Said (section “Opplesing/folk”). Brøndmo retells how it came about (Leven read Rankin on a plane and found himself John Rebus's favourite musician), considers the story “not Rankin at his best, but not bad either”; it is read live from Edinburgh with a few…
NorwegianFree to read
Short review in Doebeling's column: a record of a “delightful tryst of two Scottish art eccentrics” in Edinburgh – Rankin's reading of the short story about a record producer, interludes by Leven and Cosgrave, a “preposterous” discussion about the Kingdom of Fife, new songs.
GermanOnline
Tour-dates thread with 9 posts: “Jackie Leven's Small World Orchestra” for the “Elegy for Johnny Cash” tour in November 2005 (Münster Gleis 22, Dortmund FZW, Frankfurt, Thun, Vienna, Ingolstadt, Stuttgart, Erfurt, Berlin, Singwitz …), additions according to Cooking Vinyl (27–29.10.2005 Galerie Augenweide Münst…
GermanOnline
Review for the album's release (released 12.09.2005, Cooking Vinyl/Indigo) under the title “Black Suit”.
GermanOnline
Positive review: like many people, Leven came to Cash only through the “American Recordings”; two songs are dedicated directly to Cash (the title track as an imagined last vocal recording by Cash, “The Law of Tide” sung by Robert Fisher).
GermanOnline
Very positive review: the album breathes love for Cash and for the country-rock/Americana tradition, paired with “honest and austere Scottish lyricism”.
NorwegianFree to read
Gill appreciates Leven's portraits of men. The love songs convince him less.
EnglishOnline
Enthusiastic review, noting the Union Scene concert with the Small World Orchestra and Eivind Kløverød: Elegy for Johnny Cash is meant to be Leven's definitive breakthrough in Norway, comparable with Cohen and Van Morrison as “friends of Norway”.
NorwegianFree to read
Preview of the concert at the pub Siste Reis in Halden on Sunday, 25.09.2005. The promoter is Tom Skjeklesæther of Halden, who ran the rock club Ratz in Oslo in the early 1980s: Doll by Doll was the first band to play there.
NorwegianFree to read
Review of the double CD with Ian Rankin (recording from the Queen's Hall, Edinburgh, August 2004, plus three new songs and older material).
ItalianOnline
Review of the opening concert of the Union Scene (Sat 24.09.2005, 10 pm, about 250 listeners) with Leven and his now four-piece band.
NorwegianFree to read
Short, positive review looking forward to Leven's concert at Checkpoint (Stavanger) “in just under a month”: even odd production decisions cannot spoil Leven's classic songwriting.
NorwegianFree to read
Short interview on the day of the concert at Blå Rock, Tromsø (Wednesday, 28.09.2005). Leven says (self-report) that Tromsø has a positive “end-of-the-world-feeling”; his love of Tromsø arose during four earlier visits, and he wrote some of his best songs in Tromsø hotel rooms.
NorwegianFree to read
Disappointed review of the concert at the full Præstengbrygga in Kabelvåg on Thursday, 29.09.2005; the support act was Hot Club de Norvège.
NorwegianFree to read
This week Leven was “official Scottish ambassador” in Bergen: on Wednesday (12.10.2005) he appeared as musical guest of the British Week at Galleri Nygaten, for the 60th anniversary of the Norway–Shetland ferry link; in the second set the audience was very drunk, he…
NorwegianFree to read
Preview with an interview on Leven's concert at Stavanger's Checkpoint Charlie (the Thursday after publication, so probably 20.10.2005).
NorwegianOnline
NRK text portrait for the radio series “Ukas P2-artist” (14–18.11.2005, weekdays 9.30–10.00 am on NRK P2).
NorwegianOnline
Interview on “Elegy for Johnny Cash” (2005). Leven says that both his parents died the previous year, his father after a long illness at about the time of Cash's death; only through his father's death did he come to Cash's music, and the title song “wrote itself” (self-report).
GermanOnline
Short review: Leven, a mixture of poet and musician, almost always delivers something solid. The title leads one to expect a tribute album, but it is that only in part – a few pieces in Cash's style, otherwise his own songs, often dark, at times light and pretty; spoken word and a bit of “hip-hop light” without a central role.
NorwegianFree to read
Dielemans picks up from his 2004 Crossing Border interview in which Leven had announced an album in Beirut.
DutchOnline
Review of the double CD with Ian Rankin: CD 1 contains Rankin's reading of the story about a family at a funeral, interrupted by Leven's music; CD 2 new songs, “I Say a Little Prayer” and older material.
DutchOnline
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Tore Bø · Bergensavisen · 31 May 2005 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Page 42–43
anonymous (not reliably attributable in the OCR) · Drammens Tidende · 30 August 2005 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Page 42–43
anonymous (not legible in the OCR) · Drammens Tidende · 20 September 2005 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Page 50
anonymous (not legible in the OCR) · Nordlys (Tromsø) · 21 September 2005 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Page 24
anonymous (not legible in the OCR) · Avisa Nordland (Bodø) · 27 September 2005 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Page 20
Kjetil Vik · Bladet Tromsø · 28 September 2005 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
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anonymous (not legible in the OCR) · Firdaposten (Florø) · 8 October 2005 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Belated review (the album had come out the previous year, before the Cash film): not a tribute or covers album, but new Leven songs with a homage in the title track and in “The Law Of Tide” (sung by Robert Fisher).
ItalianOnline
Report on the concert at the Steinenhaus in Solingen (“Cornish Pub”, promoter Fritz Kappner) on the evening of the World Cup match England–Sweden; Leven greeted the audience with a Swedish flag on his amplifier.
GermanOnline
Cover interview during Rankin's visit to Iceland. Asked about his punk band Dancing Pigs, Rankin says his rock-star dream had come true only recently: Leven had found himself mentioned in a Rebus novel, made contact via the publisher; the joint concerts (Rankin reads a long short story, Leven sings matching songs) were so successful that a double CD resulted. Since then he has found himself in record shops such as Virgin or HMV on the shelf next to R.E.M.
EnglishOnline
Maurer explains the alter ego as Leven presents it at concerts: he had written more songs than the market could cope with.
GermanOnline
Gill prefers the restrained songs. The electronic experiments convince him less.
EnglishOnline
Three out of five stars for the British Cooking Vinyl release of the first Lone album.
EnglishOnline
Short review of the Cooking Vinyl edition (in Norway via Bonnier Amigo) of Songs for Lonely Americans, which Leven releases under the pseudonym Sir Vincent Lone.
NorwegianFree to read
Thread from December 2006 to 2014 (around 20 posts). Praise for “The Mystery of Love” and for his live presence (“live the man is a bomb”), a memory of a concert at the Cologne Gloria with Richard Thompson and Midnight Choir, mockery of Leven's girth and Bermuda shirts.
GermanOnline
The short introduction names eleven folk-rock pieces and Johnny Dowd and Leon Hunt as guests.
ItalianOnline
Short review: not a revolutionarily new but a typically classic Leven album with Johnny Dowd as a partner, a homage to Kevin Coyne, more blues in the guitar playing, poems by Kenneth Patchen and “I've Been Everywhere” as a comic list of his usual tour stops.
GermanOnline
Gill praises the combination of despair and black humour. He particularly recommends “Vox Humana”.
EnglishOnline
Three out of five stars. Smith begins with the confession that he long took Leven for a woman, compares the album's handling of ageing with Dylan's Modern Times and praises Johnny Dowd's contributions, which bring a “gothic”, American mood.
EnglishOnline
Review taking up the album's ghost motif (warning notice in the inlay, collection of quotations in the booklet).
DutchOnline
Mixed review: the “estimated 23rd album” is an all too cosy sequel to the last records, “preaching to the converted”.
GermanOnline
Two-page conversation in the Norwegian blues magazine on the occasion of Oh What a Blow That Phantom Dealt Me!, conducted while Leven was on a “flying visit” in Oslo to play a sold-out concert at John Dee (March 2007).
NorwegianFree to read
Four out of five stars. Jerome describes a cramped, smoky club with waitresses walking past in front of the stage, and a nervous yet self-assured Leven whose voice makes one forget all adversity.
EnglishOnline
Neil McCormick uses the reissue of all four Doll by Doll albums on Rhino as an occasion to declare “Gypsy Blood” (1979) the lost masterpiece of British rock: sweeping, tipping from the tender to the terrifying, with Leven's voice gliding between baritone and falsetto; he comp…
EnglishPaywall
Detailed, positive review: less melodramatic and more relaxed than its predecessors, with folk, rockabilly, chanson and blues, produced by Leven with David Wrench; part of the vocal tracks were reportedly recorded in a Ukrainian church.
GermanOnline
Krulle describes a thrilling evening at the Knust in Hamburg with Michael Cosgrave. He praises Leven's singing, his playing melody and bass at the same time, and the combination of songs with comic stories.
GermanOnline
Leven lives from music and releases at least one album a year, each with a reason to exist.
ItalianOnline
Collection page for the charity tribute CD for Kevin Coyne (Life and Living Records, March 2007, in aid of projects at London's Maudsley Hospital).
EnglishOnline
Fact profile from a series that festival organiser Tom Skjeklesæther wrote for Halden Arbeiderblad about the artists of Down on the Farm 2007 (Gribsrød gård, Enningdalen near Halden).
NorwegianFree to read
Preview of the “exclusive” concert on Thursday, 4 October 2007, at Buddy (Amtmand Blomsgate, Drammen) – according to the paper Leven's fourth visit to Drammen, where he has a large, loyal audience and many friends.
NorwegianFree to read
Double-page report with interview, conducted on the day of the concert (Wednesday, 26.09.2007) in Svolvær; published a week later.
NorwegianFree to read
Report on the Cologne concert with Michael Weston King as support (plus Markus Segschneider).
GermanOnline
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anonymous · Firdaposten (Florø) · 10 March 2007 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
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anonymous · Våganavisa (Svolvær) · 1 August 2007 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
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anonymous · Bluesnews (Nr. 51) · September 2007 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
The first roughly 45 entries (16.07.–20.12.2008) welcome the new official website and the album Oh What A Blow That Phantom Dealt Me or
EnglishWeb archive
Kidman reviews the spoken-word album by Leven's fictional twin Jackie Balfour, one of two simultaneous Leven releases.
EnglishOnline
Double review of the pseudonym albums: Sir Vincent Lone's second album “When the Bridegroom Comes (Songs for Women)” with quiet folk songs and cover versions (Jackson C. Frank, Judee Sill, Donovan, David Childers, Dan Britton) – a “cosy record for the congregation”; and the audiobook “Chip Pan Fire”, in…
GermanOnline
The conversation combines the announcement of “Lovers at the Gun Club” with Leven's musical preferences and his ideas about drinking whisky.
EnglishOnline
Davies agrees with Leven's own assessment that this is one of his best albums. He describes the title song with Johnny Dowd as lead voice (inspired by stories of a person called Shannon Doyle), “Olivier Blues”, the Kenneth Patchen setting “To Whom It May Concern”, “Fareham Confidential” an…
EnglishOnline
Short, apparently written interview by the webzine Vanguard Online on the release of Lovers At The Gun Club (2008).
EnglishWeb archive
Four out of five stars. Cole introduces Leven as “the nearest thing to Johnny Cash that Britain will ever have”; the album offers no surprises, Leven has found his formula of dark, rough-hewn folk.
EnglishOnline
Interview on “Lovers at the Gun Club” (2008). Maurer reports that Leven chose the pseudonym Sir Vincent Lone after being annoyed that Will Oldham, and not he, had come up with “Bonnie Prince”; the new album was recorded without the record company's knowledge, which Leven plays down.
GermanOnline
Positive short review from the record page: Hovensjø introduces Leven (58) as a poet and musician who began as John St. Field, was singer of Doll by Doll, has a spell as a junkie behind him and has since delivered one great album after another.
NorwegianFree to read
Short preview: on Sunday, 9 November (2008) Leven, currently promoting Lovers at the Gun Club, will play again at Madam Felle on Bryggen in Bergen, where he has already given “magical” concerts; beautiful songs and absurd stories are promised.
NorwegianFree to read
Enthusiastic short review: never have Leven's interpretations been “so snotty, skewed, rough”; in the title track, sung by Johnny Dowd, Leven quotes Van Morrison's “Gloria”.
GermanWeb archive
Gill praises Leven's empathy and stage humour. The accompaniment supports his storytelling.
EnglishOnline
Thread with 15 posts from September 2008 to September 2011, in which fans post and comment on the German tour dates.
GermanOnline
Double-page preview with quotes from a conversation. Leven is coming to Tromsø at the weekend: first a solo concert at Circa on Saturday afternoon (5 pm), then as support act for Madrugada at their farewell concerts at the Kulturhuset on Sunday and Monday.
NorwegianFree to read
Culture page (p. 12 of the issue) with interview before the second “Lyttekonsert” at Buddy on Thursday, 13.11.2008, 8 pm.
NorwegianFree to read
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unknown (not discernible in the OCR) · Bluesnews (Norsk Bluesunion), Nr. 56 · September 2008 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
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anonymous (youth page “Scoopet”) · Jærbladet (Bryne) · 10 September 2008 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
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unknown (not reliably attributable in the OCR) · Varden (Skien) · 8 November 2008 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
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unsicher: Arild Færaas oder Johnny Andreassen · Drammens Tidende · 14 November 2008 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Troyanovich introduces Leven to an audience from the American correctional system. The piece appears in the newsletter of the New Jersey chapter of the American Correctional Association, Volume 3, Number 1, Spring/Summer 2009, on printed pages 18–19. It opens with the joint project with Ian…
EnglishOnline
Around 40 genuine entries. The trouble over Live From A Cornish Pub In Germany grows: several buyers report that their cheque was cashed in 2008 but the CD never arrived; in June one writes that it has been over a year, a Scottish fan has been waiting since Glenfarg for a paid-for, signed album and letter …
EnglishWeb archive
Long conversation, conducted in December 2008 before a concert at the pub The Roscoe in Leeds and published eight months later.
EnglishWeb archive
Introduction to the Haunted Year series, with which Leven makes the eight limited fan-club albums regularly available after the end of the Haunted Valley magazine.
EnglishOnline
Review of the double CD with two Haunted Valley live albums: the prison concert in Bergen (2000 according to the text), rather cool, and the recording from Munich's Muffathalle with Cosgrave and Deborah Greenwood, on which Leven shines as an entertainer.
GermanOnline
Short review of the double CD The Haunted Year – Winter: Leven (Doll by Doll, then “på kjøret”, trapped again, since then a series of beautiful albums with impressive lyrics) feels at home in Bergen; one CD shows him alone with guitar at the concert in Bergen prison in 2003, where he occasionally tells…
NorwegianFree to read
Kris Needs (who had followed Doll by Doll for ZigZag as early as 1978) calls Leven “the UK's mightiest troubadour” and welcomes the reissue of the Haunted Valley live albums.
EnglishOnline
Four out of five stars. Oliver considers Man Bleeds in Glasgow (1998, with the Celtic Soulmen) the stronger part, because the live versions do without the at times “pale” studio production.
EnglishOnline
Review of the second double CD of the series: Man Bleeds in Glasgow (Water Rats, London, with the Celtic Soulmen Michael Cosgrave and Stephen Hannigan) and Greetings From Milford (Haunted Valley Christmas party with the Stornoway Girls at the British Legion Club, Milford).
EnglishOnline
Finnish review of the double CD from the reissue series (concert in the Norwegian prison in Bergen and a solo concert in a Munich café), rated 4 out of 5 stars.
FinnishOnline
Review of the spring instalment of the “Haunted Year” series: “Man Bleeds In Glasgow” (Water Rats, London, 1998, with the Celtic Soulmen Michael Cosgrave and Steafan Hannigan) and “Greetings From Milford” (Haunted Valley Christmas party 1999 at the British Legion Club, Milford).
ItalianOnline
Danish review of the reissue double CD The Haunted Year – Spring (Man Bleeds in Glasgow with the Celtic Soulmen, Greetings From Milford with the Stornoway Girls).
DanishOnline
Davies describes the two live recordings (Black Horse, Otley; The Greys, Brighton) as dominated by Leven's between-song announcements – on Barefoot Days there is room for only six songs, but there are anecdotes, for example about an encounter with Joni Mitchell.
EnglishOnline
Profile in the festival programme of the Visefestivalen in Egersund (section “Dalane Brygghus”). Aalbu strings together the Leven legends, expressly as hearsay (“etter sigende”): the first pupil in Scotland to be expelled from school for drug possession; Doll by Doll shortly before the breakthrough; in 1984 on the…
NorwegianFree to read
Positive short review of the concert at Dalane Brygghus during the Visefestivalen Egersund (early July 2009): Leven is a big man in more than one sense, whom life has knocked about; through his stories the audience took part in his life and cheered.
NorwegianFree to read
Report on the premiere of the “Bestillingsverket” by Knut Buen and Leven at the Kongsberg Jazz Festival (Thursday, 02.07.2009, Christians Kjeller) with an outlook: there is to be a joint record and at least one further concert, this time in Tuddal.
NorwegianFree to read
Short review of the reissue of two Haunted Valley CDs with live recordings from Brighton and Yorkshire, guests such as David Thomas, many unfamiliar stories and some studio rarities.
GermanOnline
Short live review: Leven opens with “Standing in Another Man's Rain” and closes with “The White Bars of Heaven”; in between the Johnny Cash elegy, a song about ravens and a psychedelic blues transition to Beatles, Van Morrison and Donovan.
EnglishOnline
Kris Needs exposes the supposed “recently deceased eccentric drinker” Sir Vincent Lone, whose three albums were said to have been available only in a London coffee house, as Leven “in fanciful mood”.
EnglishOnline
Short review of the third Lone album: Leven “kills” his pseudonym and thereby presents a “posthumous” album that is better than the usual estate retrospectives.
EnglishOnline
Three out of five stars. Oliver praises the new studio title song “Barefoot Days” and calls Leven a criminally overlooked songwriter; Deep in the Heart of Nowhere reproduces a typical Leven concert more completely, but flows less convincingly.
EnglishOnline
Maurer declares Sir Vincent Lone “dead”: the alter ego has served its purpose, since Cooking Vinyl goes along with three or four Leven albums a year anyway; musically Lone does not differ from Leven.
GermanOnline
Review of the final instalment of the Haunted Year series. Davies describes Greek Notebook as 33 sketches (“Island”) from Walkman recordings made over seven years on Astypalea – interesting as an insight into the working process, more for completists.
EnglishOnline
Short blog entry: reproduces Leven's English booklet note on “Greek Notebook” (1999) and adds two Greek sentences – fans of the rare acid-folk album “Control” (here: Movieplay 1975) would find Leven's Greek connection in “Greek Notebook”; a significant artist to be discovered.
GreekOnline
Needs describes Greek Notebook as Walkman sketches from a remote Greek island – perhaps the most unconventional item in Leven's catalogue, but a fascinating glimpse into the creative process.
EnglishOnline
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Frank Johnsen · Bergensavisen · 24 February 2009 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
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Terje Jensen · Laagendalsposten (Kongsberg) · 17 March 2009 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
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unsicher: Johnny Andreassen oder Jan Rustad · Bluesnews (Norsk Bluesunion), Nr. 59 · April 2009 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
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unknown (not discernible in the OCR) · Drammens Tidende · 2 July 2009 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
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Lars Bryne · Laagendalsposten (Kongsberg) · 4 July 2009 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Of roughly 190 entries this year only about 25 are genuine; from September 2010 spam entries flood the guestbook, and in November a fan expressly asks for the rubbish to be deleted.
EnglishWeb archive
Review of the double CD from the “Haunted Year” series (release date according to the page 01.12.2009): three studio tracks (including “Autumn Song”) and six live tracks from Cologne and Frankfurt 2003, including “Barefoot Days” with Kevin Hewick and Joe Shaw; the second CD gathers Walkman sketches from the Greek islands.
ItalianOnline
Blog entry by Telegraph rock critic Neil McCormick after Leven's concert at London's Slaughtered Lamb to launch Gothic Road (February 2010).
EnglishWeb archive
Davies explains the album concept of the two roads (Royal Road and Road of Poverty and Death) and considers it possibly “poetic smoke and mirrors”.
EnglishOnline
Positive review: a “very solid Jackie classic” about the path of life (and of death), with specific pieces such as “Cornelius Whalen”, “Tilda Swinton” and “Mini Bar”, a guest appearance by Leven's old idol Ralph McTell and Cosgrave also on flute.
GermanOnline
“Fangie” has admired Leven since a Doll by Doll gig in a Manchester pub in 1982 and calls him his “Great Lost Superstar” of British music; he recommends Fairy Tales for Hard Men, The Mystery of Love, Shining Brother Shining Sister and Control.
EnglishWeb archive
Conversation and short report on the previous evening's performance (08.04.2010) at the Haugesund venue Dikselen, the opening of the 2010 Norway tour. Leven played material from the just-released Gothic Road as well as older songs such as “Big Tears” to a “conscious and marginal” audience.
NorwegianFree to read
Announcement of the concert on Wednesday, 14.04.2010, at Bastard Bar, Tromsø. Head of bookings Egon Holstad praises the voice, guitar playing and storytelling of the “Scottish friend”, which he says make even stand-up comedians look pale; on his last visit to Tromsø Leven had enchanted the audience alone on a large stage as the support act for Madrugada on their farewell tour, while the intimate Bastard will be something quite different.
NorwegianFree to read
Song-by-song review: an opening with a German satnav announcement, “Cornelius Whalen” (about the last surviving participant of the 1936 Jarrow March) with Ralph McTell, “Song for Bass Guitar and Death” with Deborah Greenwood, and a German captain's announcement before “Hotel Mini Bar”.
GermanOnline
Very positive review (“Sterkt”): Leven has become an elegant gentleman “with several ghosts in the closet”, an eternal outsider like his contemporaries John Cooper Clarke and Billy Childish.
NorwegianFree to read
The Kongsberg local newspaper reports that the Leven/Knut Buen duo, which premiered with a sold-out concert at the Kongsberg Jazz Festival 2009 (photo: performance in the backyard of “Christians …”), will perform together again at Bergenfest 2010: the concert on the Småscenen of Den Nationale Scene is divided into three parts – Leven solo, Leven and Buen together, Buen solo. The duo will also play on Saturday, 1 May, in Ulvik at the new event “Harding Folk”.
NorwegianFree to read
Portrait with quotations from conversation after Leven's concert at Dikselen, Haugesund, the previous week (08.04.2010).
NorwegianOnline
Positive short review: “Scotland's best-known Gypsy” has been delivering high-quality records since Doll by Doll in the late 1970s; after nearly dying in a street fight in the mid-1980s he fought his way back.
NorwegianFree to read
Large preview of the concert on Friday, 23.04.2010, at Grand Kjelleren in Egersund, organised by the Egersund Visefestival in cooperation with World Book Day (Leven performs after a Bokkafé).
NorwegianFree to read
“Bunnsolid”: Leven is among the most remarkable living lyricists, literary and full of pop-culture references, never showing off.
NorwegianFree to read
One of the few North American articles about Leven, published for the US release of Gothic Road (Vol.
EnglishOnline
Positive review: the “friend of Norway”, with a new release every eighteen months plus collaborations and bootlegs, is one of Britain's most industrious artists.
NorwegianOnline
Preview of Leven's appearance at the “lyttekonserter” at Buddy Scene in Drammen, conducted by Johnny Andreassen (who had already done the Fremtiden interview in 1995).
NorwegianFree to read
“Song of the Week” piece by the writer David Belbin for Leven's 60th birthday. He recounts how he saw Doll by Doll around 1979 at the Ad Lib Club in Nottingham after buying the debut Remember: the DJ had played the ballad Janice five times before the performance, so the band out of spite did not play it; the concert was harder than any punk band (“Joy Division? Pah.”). Twenty years later he experienced Leven solo in the upstairs room of The Gladstone pub in Nottingham – with his falsetto lost, but a brilliant, earthy and self-mocking storyteller; afterwards Leven confirmed to him that the 1979 concert had been one of Doll by Doll's few good ones.
EnglishOnline
Blog post by the Greek critic Fontas Troussas: translates Leven's booklet note for “Greek Notebook” (seven years each May and September on Astypalea), recounts how, through the Korean reissue of “Control” (2002, Merry-Go-Round/Beatball, 500 LPs, with liner notes by Leven), he learned that John St. Field is Leven, and reviews “The Haunted Year / Spring” (Celtic Soulmen; The Stornoway Girls with Kevin Hewick, Dan Britton, Lee Allatson) and “Lovers At The Gun Club” (recorded in Wales, one of his most “American” albums, with a Kenneth Patchen setting and a David Childers song). Overall verdict: very positive. Mentions earlier Leven reviews on the blog and in “Jazz & Τζαζ”.
GreekOnline
Review of the concert of 19.09.2010 in the Bovenzaal of the Paradiso, where Leven played before the US roots band Chatham County Line.
DutchOnline
Roughly 26-minute conversational portrait from the BBC Radio Scotland series “Stark Talk” (BBC programme page: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00w68bh).
EnglishOnline
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Johnny Andreassen · Bluesnews (Notodden), Nr. 63, Februar 2010 · February 2010 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Page 41–42
anonymous · Haugesunds Avis · 10 April 2010 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
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unknown · Bergensavisen · 13 April 2010 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
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Helge Ottesen · Varden (Skien) · 20 April 2010 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
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uncertain (probably Geir Hovensjø) · Østlendingen (Elverum) · 27 April 2010 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Page 13
unknown · Hordaland (Voss) · 29 April 2010 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Tribute by the Pennyblack writer Ben Howarth and his brother Charles after Leven's death. Ben recounts how Leven's overrunning set at the Canterbury Fayre festival caught his father's attention and how Leven asked the audience to stay in the tent rather than go and see Robert Plant; the friendship with Robert Fisher of Willard Grant Conspiracy also began there. He learned of the death from a press release and was one of the last journalists to speak to Leven. Charles describes his first Leven concert, at lunchtime in a pub in Bath, and singles out “Museum of Childhood”; the recommended starting point is “Classic Northern Diversions”.
EnglishOnline
Around 35 genuine entries that reflect Leven's last year from a fan's perspective. In the first half of the year, declarations of devotion dominate (a fan from Leeds saw him in 1994 at the Duchess of York pub and remembers “Gylen Gylen”), along with questions about Australian tours and memories from old acquaintances: a Yorkshireman, now in Saigon, says he stayed overnight in the Doll by Doll flat in Maida Vale and arranged gigs for the band. In summer One Long Cold Morning is sent out by post; delivery to Germany takes a long time, and the old resentment about the never-delivered Cornish Pub CD flares up again. One guest announces a free concert on 12.08.2011 at Jolly's Bar, Kilmarnock; a Canadian is looking forward to the Halifax Urban Folk Festival (HUFF), a Swede to the Scandinavian tour in October.
EnglishWeb archive
Schelle rates the DVD of the Bonn Crossroads performance of 26 March 2004 very positively. Besides Cosgrave he expressly names the bassist Kevin Foster and praises the dense, intimate performance as well as Leven's alternation between songs and stories.
GermanOnline
Review of the MIG DVD from the Rockpalast Crossroads series, recorded according to the text on 26.03.2004 at the Harmonie in Bonn with Michael Cosgrave and bassist Kevin Foster.
GermanOnline
Enthusiastic review of the first regular live DVD (MIG, 25.04.2011): the Rockpalast performance at the Harmonie in Bonn in 2004 with Cosgrave and Kevin Foster, centred on three long songs from “Shining Brother Shining Sister”, with “Call Mother A Lonely Field” as the highlight.
GermanOnline
Graeme Thomson (later author of the official biography of 2021 and of the Telegraph portrait) describes Leven at a Fringe solo performance three months before his death: physically weakened, but with voice and guitar alone able to captivate a small room.
EnglishOnline
Probably one of Leven's last interviews, by telephone shortly before the release of Wayside Shrines and the Code of the Travelling Man, the joint record with the keyboard player Michael Cosgrave.
EnglishOnline
Detailed track-by-track review of the last studio album, which Leven recorded alone with Michael Cosgrave in the latter's studio on Dartmoor.
EnglishOnline
Review of the last studio album: Cosgrave had a free hand this time (keyboards, accordion, tin whistle, percussion, co-composition), while Leven played only acoustic guitar and sang.
GermanOnline
16 reader comments from 15.11. to 01.12.2011 beneath the label's obituary, in English and one in German.
EnglishWeb archive
Personally coloured short obituary by Jochen König, who later also reviewed Leven. He mentions the knife attack that had robbed him of his voice for almost two years, the heroin addiction that followed and the many albums after his recovery (“true Celtic soul”).
GermanOnline
The user “Bogart” (later also active in the Afterword) opens a thread on 08.11.2011: Leven is “very poorly in hospital”, and people are asked to collect stories and thoughts about him; he will hear about them and it may help him.
EnglishWeb archive
They begin on the evening of 14.11.2011 (Brussels, Kassel) and peak on 15 and 16.11.; they are written from Scotland and England, Germany (Bochum, Lauterbach, Münster, Düsseldorf, Essen, Frankfurt, Hannover, Kiel, Krefeld, Bremen, Dresden), Norway (Egersund, Oslo, Trondheim, Drammen), Sweden, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Belgium, Northern Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and the USA, some in German. The tone is grief and gratitude for songs, voice, guitar playing and above all the stories; many drink to him (“white bar in Heaven”, “best bar in the sky”). Many only heard of it days or weeks later, and some did not know he had been ill.
EnglishWeb archive
The most important British newspaper obituary, written by the Guardian folk and world music critic Robin Denselow, who had known Leven since the late 1970s and had interviewed him himself in 1988.
EnglishOnline
Short online report from the BBC regional newsroom: Leven died aged 61 after an illness with cancer.
EnglishOnline
Short death report (15.11.2011, 19.32): the “friend of Bergen” Leven died on Monday evening aged 61 after a long illness with cancer.
NorwegianOnline
Mick Houghton, who in 1978 was responsible for Doll by Doll in the press department of Warner Bros and in 1994 again worked as Leven's press man, remembers on the day after the death.
EnglishOnline
The short report tells of Leven's death at the age of 61 and his preceding illness with cancer.
EnglishWeb archive
The label's official obituary, published the day after the death. It begins with the same sentence as the obituary home page of jackieleven.co.uk (death on Monday, 14 November, “at 8 o'clock in the evening”, cancer) and the same Leven quotation about “spiritual” and “soulful” storytellers.
EnglishWeb archive
Short obituary from the Norwegian music blog on the day after Leven's death (14.11.2011, at 20:00 according to the text).
NorwegianOnline
The Dorset journalist Nick Churchill published a short obituary on the day of the death (blog post of 15.11.2011, updated 2016) and documented beneath it three interviews he had done with Leven for the Bournemouth Echo.
EnglishOnline
Short death report: Leven died on Monday evening at eight o'clock in “Southhampton”. Introduced with Leven's well-known quotation about spiritual and soulful storytellers (translated into German, probably based on the obituary home page of jackieleven.co.uk).
GermanOnline
Short obituary from the Hamburg editorial office on the day after the death (15.11.2011, 17:27). It names heroin addiction, alcohol, delusion, depression and longing as Leven's main themes, describes him as a “colossus” with a filigree voice and places him in the tradition of Johnny Cash (prison live album in Norway, “Elegy for Johnny Cash” 2005).
GermanOnline
The opening post pays tribute to Leven as a songwriter who encouraged other musicians to write themselves.
EnglishOnline
Tribute by Graeme Thomson on the morning after Leven's death. He calls Leven one of the country's most distinctive songwriters with a stubbornly low commercial profile and describes the cast of his songs (Serbian prostitutes, Earls Court taxi drivers, convicts, pub philosophers from Dundee), with whom Leven identified; as his best songs he names “Poortoun” and “Universal Blue”. Leven was an ex-junkie, brawler and enthusiastic drinker, the late records often uneven, the concerts with their digressions (Laurence Olivier, a photo session in a Glasgow alley) always worth seeing. Thomson last saw him in August 2011 in Edinburgh, physically weakened.
EnglishOnline
Beneath Graeme Thomson's obituary (15.11.2011) there were around 30 reader comments up to March 2012; they are no longer visible on the live page today, but are complete in the Wayback capture of 2021.
EnglishWeb archive
Standalone, unsigned Herald obituary (headline “Musician; Born: June 18, 1950; Died: November 14, 2011”), separate from the news report of the same day.
EnglishOnline
Tribute by the Leicester singer-songwriter Kevin Hewick, who as a teenager saw over 50 Doll by Doll concerts.
EnglishOnline
Short blog entry by the music journalist and Radio Ulster presenter Stuart Bailie. He recalls a Leven performance at London's Borderline in a kilt with his own whisky, Doll by Doll as a post-punk cult band (Stuart Maconie was said to have been a big fan) and the anecdote with which Leven answered Mike Scott in 1986 when Scott complained about the rock-star life – according to Bailie honoured in the sleevenotes of “Fisherman's Blues”. In 1992 Bailie listened for an afternoon in west London to Leven's stories about addiction and the CORE Trust.
EnglishOnline
Short death report in the print edition of 16.11.2011: the Scottish singer and songwriter died on Monday aged 61.
NorwegianFree to read
The Nottingham writer David Belbin (young-adult and crime novels) writes a personal obituary two days after Leven's death.
EnglishOnline
Strunk reports Leven's death and refers to the positive GAFFA review of his last album.
DanishOnline
The Dutch music journalist Peter Bruyn explicitly writes not an obituary but a personal recollection.
DutchOnline
News item in the Herald: Leven died “on Monday evening” after a long battle with cancer.
EnglishOnline
The operator of the US rock discussion site (“Mr. Moderator”) writes on the day of the death (date given by the site: 16.11.2011) that he knew Leven only through John St. Field's 1975 album Control, to which a fellow user had introduced him – a quirky mixture of English hippie folk and pub rock.
EnglishOnline
Personal obituary by Neil McCormick, Leven's long-standing advocate at the Telegraph.
EnglishWeb archive
Classic Telegraph obituary. Leven was said to be one of the most colourful and distinctive talents in rock and folk, without the success he deserved; a Telegraph critic (Neil McCormick) is said to have called Doll by Doll “the greatest band you've never heard of”.
EnglishPaywall
A short personal obituary on a private blog from Bournemouth. The author, who interviewed Leven several times, describes him as always friendly and talkative in conversation, as generous in listening as in telling stories.
EnglishWeb archive
Personal obituary by the Scotsman music journalist Colin Somerville, who first met Leven in 1994 in a telephone interview about Mystery of Love and was friends with him.
EnglishOnline
Short death notice from the Spanish music magazine: Leven died of cancer on 14 November aged 61, founded the punk band Doll by Doll in 1977 (four albums 1979–1982) and afterwards worked solo under his own name and as John St. Field; in 1984, during recording of his first solo album, he was said to have been attacked in the street and almost strangled, lost his speech for two years and became addicted to heroin…
SpanishOnline
Obituary by the music journalist Nick Hasted, who had interviewed Leven in 2007 and quotes from that interview.
EnglishOnline
Unsigned death notice on Leven's official website: death on Monday, 14 November (2011), at 8 pm, after an illness with cancer; with Leven's quotation about “soulful story tellers”, the reference to jackie-leven.com and a biography paragraph (over 400 songs, “Call Mother A Lonely Field” counted by Q among the best…
EnglishWeb archive
Dagnies reports Leven's death on 14 November and recalls John St. Field, Doll by Doll and the collaboration with David Thomas.
FrenchOnline
Unsigned Times obituary. It presents Leven as an outsider with a 40-year career, masterly but neglected albums and labels such as “Britain's greatest lost rock star”.
EnglishOnline
Three weeks after Leven's death, Tim Rundall played two tracks from “Wayside Shrines and the Code of the Travelling Man” on the Brighton community radio programme: “To Live and Die in Levenland” and “Backstage Chelsea Club” (playlist in the archive.org description).
EnglishOnline
Report from a house concert by Michael Weston King in Cologne on 09.12.2011, which was largely devoted to the memory of Leven, who had died a few weeks earlier.
GermanOnline
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unknown · Østlendingen (Elverum) · 27 September 2011 · Nasjonalbiblioteket · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
About 25 genuine entries, after that almost only spam. In 2012 late condolences continue to arrive: many only learned of the death months later (June 2012 a fan who found Leven through the Rebus novels).
EnglishWeb archive
The most literary obituary, written by the music journalist Paul Du Noyer, who met Leven in 1979 and was his friend for 32 years.
EnglishOnline
Belbin finds in his collection a concert recording from Essen, a year before Leven's death, and puts its announcement about Randy Newman and Joni Mitchell online as audio, together with Mitchell's “Shades of Scarlett Conquering” and Newman's “The Girls in My Life”.
EnglishOnline
Short reminiscence post by a concertgoer from the north-east of England: he saw Doll by Doll around 1979 at the Middlesbrough Rock Garden and thinks he also saw them as support act on the Hawkwind tour at Newcastle City Hall; at the time he did not think them special, but listened to the debut “Remember” often and only in retrospect recognised its uniqueness…
EnglishOnline
Publisher's video of just under two minutes: Rankin explains that the novel's title is a “mondegreen” – for years he heard the refrain of Leven's “Another Man's Rain” as “Standing in Another Man's Grave” and only noticed the mistake when looking at the lyric booklet; Rebus mishears it in the same way at the start of the novel.
EnglishOnline
Ian Rankin chooses “Creatures of Light and Darkness” for the “Baker’s Dozen” series. His reasoning leads directly to his writing: Leven's male characters, who are poor at expressing their feelings, seemed to him fitting music for Rebus.
EnglishOnline
Collector's blog post on “Control” with credits (including Joe Kucera, Jesse Ballard, Juliet Lawson) and a long biography apparently taken from official Leven materials: childhood in Fife as an outsider, his mother a blues lover (Lightnin' Hopkins), first appearances at the Elbow Room folk club in…
EnglishOnline
Publisher's video of a good minute and a half: Rankin says “Saints of the Shadow Bible” is the second book whose title he takes from a Leven line; Leven died while he was planning “Standing in Another Man's Grave”.
EnglishOnline
Blog post about the only single by Concrete Bulletproof Invisible (1988): at its core Doll by Doll with Glen Matlock on bass.
EnglishOnline
Two-part portrait in the Italian web magazine Distorsioni, a good two years after Leven's death.
ItalianOnline
Tribute for his (almost) 65th birthday in the Guardian series on cult musicians. Graeme Thomson recalls Leven's concert at the Cabaret Voltaire in Edinburgh on 11 August 2011, which turned out to be a farewell; three months later Leven died of pancreatic cancer.
EnglishOnline
Twenty comments (16–18.06.2015) under Graeme Thomson's “Cult heroes” piece. To one reader's charge that a dead man is being mythologised, fans reply that Leven did most of that himself.
EnglishOnline
Birthday thread (18/19.06.2015) with twelve replies: toasts, favourite songs and links (including “Desolation Blues” live in Glasgow, c. 1997).
EnglishOnline
The Norwegian operator of the English-language music blog (otherwise mainly about Bob Dylan) recalls a concert about a year before Leven's death: after the show Leven could not pronounce his first name, asked what it meant and signed a CD for him “To my big viking friend”.
EnglishOnline
Part of a blog series about bands that fell “between the cracks” of rock history; the Doll by Doll section appears alongside Holly and the Italians, Tonio K., Skids and others. Van Dorston places the band as not fitting the post-punk scene, closer to Van Morrison and Springsteen; “Remember” is…
EnglishOnline
Portrait of Frank Nes, concert head at Bergen Live, in which Leven gets a section of conversation of his own.
NorwegianOnline
Whisky conversation with Rankin in which each dram is paired with a piece of music. With Laphroaig, Leven's Exit Wound is heard: if Rebus is not listening to John Martyn, he listens to Leven, and Fairy Tales for Hard Men is “that's Rebus”.
EnglishOnline
The long retrospective combines an in-depth appreciation of the Doll by Doll albums with the author's recollections and older passages of conversation.
EnglishOnline
The Scottish singer-songwriter Norman Lamont (self-description: “came of age in the early 70s”) tells how he discovered Leven twice without hearing him first: in 1981, after a press review, he bought Doll by Doll's single “Main Travelled Roads”, and in 1994 likewise the EP Songs from the Argyll Cycle, which…
EnglishOnline
Gary links a short YouTube video in which Leven speaks (first announced as a documentary, then corrected: “just him talking”).
EnglishOnline
Norman Lamont publishes, with permission, the recollections of a reader, “Tom in Glasgow”.
EnglishOnline
Report from the Johnny Cash festival “Cash Back In Fife” at the Woodside Hotel, Aberdour, curated around Dean Owens.
EnglishOnline
Kerr gives a very positive account of the first Cash Back In Fife weekend and describes a separate programme item in memory of Leven.
EnglishOnline
Opening post by the forum user “Moonidus” for Leven's 70th birthday (18.06.2020): he says he organised a bench in London's Soho Square in his memory, near the bench for Kirsty MacColl – both wrote songs about the square.
EnglishOnline
A video of a good 85 minutes, compiled for Leven's 70th birthday from contributions the participants recorded at home (Covid period).
EnglishOnline
Long conversation from 2007 in the bar of the former Hotel Viking in Oslo, (re)published on Popklikk.
NorwegianOnline
Essay by the Scottish music journalist Graeme Thomson, dated “Edinburgh, May 2021”, as the official biography of the revived website.
EnglishWeb archive
On the occasion of the compilation Straight Outta Caledonia, Ian Rankin (as told to Robin Denselow) recounts his relationship with Leven.
EnglishOnline
Beneath Ian Rankin's piece (as told to Robin Denselow) are 151 reader comments from 20/21.07.2021 – the most extensive publicly readable thread of memories about Leven.
EnglishOnline
Barlass presents Leven as an artist loved by connoisseurs but overlooked by the wider public, quotes Ian Rankin's praise from the liner notes and summarises the biography.
EnglishOnline
The occasion is Ian Rankin's Guardian piece of 20 July 2021 on the compilation Straight Outta Caledonia.
EnglishOnline
Jupp takes the term “cult artist” as his starting point and recommends the ten tracks as an ideal introduction to Leven's work.
EnglishOnline
Maxwell praises Leven for being able to sing about heroin addiction, single parenthood and Jesus's sexual loneliness without sounding gloomy.
EnglishOnline
Feature by the Scottish music journalist David Pollock on the compilation Straight Outta Caledonia.
EnglishPaywall
Gannon welcomes the ten-song selection as an excellent introduction to Leven's catalogue. He particularly admires the narrative range, the vulnerability of the characters and the fusion of music and conflicting emotions; he gives no numerical rating.
EnglishOnline
Lead item of a round-up review (four stars): Shepherd hails the tribute album curated by Michael Weston King for the tenth anniversary of Leven's death as a heartfelt homage that casts fresh light on Leven's “underrated” catalogue.
EnglishOnline
Rating 9/10. Dale recounts how the compilation came about: Night School boss Michael Kasparis got to know Leven through label artist Molly Nilsson, who in the liner notes calls “The Sexual Loneliness of Jesus Christ” the best song ever.
EnglishOnline
The major retrospective for the tenth anniversary of Leven's death, published in the week of the tribute album The Wanderer.
EnglishPaywall
Detailed track-by-track review of the tribute album by a self-declared fan who saw Leven live several times.
EnglishOnline
retropath2 is giving away duplicate Bandcamp CDs he received, including the Leven tribute album; this turns into an exchange about Leven-related activity in autumn 2021. Kaisfatdad quotes a post on the official Facebook page about the new website jackieleven.co.uk and the new official YouTube channel (JLeven.lnk.to/youtube).
EnglishOnline
“ATM” stands in the forum for a request for recommendations (“Ask The Members”): fitterstoke, who has just been given the tribute album, asks where a newcomer should start.
EnglishOnline
Fully legible print version of the Plus article. Double-page spread with photos (Leven in Norway in 1998, Doll by Doll in 1981, the whisky “Leven's Lament” – with the note that it has been claimed these were his own labels on other people's bottles –, Levi Henriksen).
NorwegianFree to read
Major Babelia article for the tenth anniversary of Leven's death, prompted by the compilation “Straight Outta Caledonia” and the tribute album “The Wanderer”.
SpanishPaywall
The Glasgow Americana blogger Paul Kerr reviews the tribute album as a “labour of love”: 22 tracks, all Leven songs except Weston King's own homage The Final Reel and contributions from Levi Henriksen & Babylon Badlands and from Liam Carson with Knut Buen.
EnglishOnline
Video of just over two minutes in which Ian Rankin reads the lyrics of “Classic Northern Diversions” (Shining Brother Shining Sister, 2003).
EnglishOnline
Video of just under two minutes: Ian Rankin reads the lyrics of “My Spanish Dad” (Creatures of Light & Darkness, 2001), one of the best-loved Leven songs.
EnglishOnline
Weston King explains how “The Struggle”, his first solo album in ten years, came about.
EnglishOnline
Martin rates King's album 8/10 and highlights its varied arrangements.
EnglishOnline
Norwegian blogger reviews Weston King's solo album The Struggle (8.5/10). Leven connection: The Final Reel brings the late Leven to mind; Theory Of Truthmaker is based on handwritten Leven lines that Weston King recently received via a mutual friend and set to music.
EnglishOnline
Telephone interview with Michael Weston King about his first solo album in ten years, The Struggle (2022, recorded in Newtown, Wales, mixed with Colin Elliot in Sheffield).
EnglishOnline
On 27 May 2022 Rankin shares a photo of the memorial bench for Leven in Soho Square, which James McAon (meaning James McCaon, organiser of the bench) had sent him, and comments on it with “Poignant.”
EnglishOnline
Moonidus invites people to an informal gathering at Leven's bench in Soho Square (south side of the gardens) for his 72nd birthday (Saturday, 18 June 2022), at midday, possibly followed by the Nellie Dean pub in Dean Street.
EnglishOnline
Forshage emphatically recommends the vinyl reissue as a chance to discover Leven belatedly.
SwedishOnline
Aizlewood's retrospective accompanies the reissue of “The Mystery of Love Is Greater Than the Mystery of Death”.
EnglishPaywall
Jamieson traces Leven's life from a conversation with Deborah Greenwood and links her retrospective with the announcement of the memorial evening “Leventime”.
EnglishOnline
14-minute collector's video by the US journalist Stephen Schnee on the four Doll by Doll albums, with a medley at the end.
EnglishOnline
19-minute overview of Leven's studio albums from “Control” (as John St. Field) through the 1983/84 singles, Concrete Bulletproof Invisible (1988) and the Cooking Vinyl years to “Wayside Shrines” (2011), including the pseudonyms Sir Vincent Lone and Jackie Balfour; ends with a medley.
EnglishOnline
On the 12th anniversary of Leven's death, Bogart points to the evening “Levenland” on Saturday, 18 November 2023, at the Betsey Trotwood pub in London, where Deborah Greenwood and Jinder celebrate Leven's songs and stories; he invites people to join the “Church of Leven” and drink toffee vodka.
EnglishOnline
Detailed review of the Guerssen reissue of “Control” (2023) in the “Revisio” section.
EnglishOnline
Very personal, rapturous review by editor-in-chief Thoralf Koß of the 4-CD box (MIG, 26 April 2024) with a 1999 solo concert and the 2004 concert with Michael Cosgrave in the Radio Bremen Sendesaal. The text begins with three quotations: a comment under the theArtsDesk obituary (with the closing line of “Main Travelled Roads”), the Tagesspiegel obituary of 17 November 2011 and the musikreviews comments of 2011, including Jochen König's criticism of the FAZ obituary. Koß praises Leven as one of the most likeable and honest musicians ever, compares him with Bob Dylan, Frank Zappa, Elvis Presley and above all Scott Walker, describes his “tramp outfit” and his refusal to give encores (“only idiots like Robbie Williams”). He praises the guitar playing, voice and sound quality. In a postscript he tells of a lengthy conversation with Leven at the Beatpol in Dresden about 15 years earlier and a signed CD “For Peace Comes Dropping Slow”. Tone: hymn, highest praise.
GermanOnline
Meurer recommends the four CDs to fans and newcomers alike and rates them 10/15 points; a second reviewer gives 12 points.
GermanOnline
Short profile of the journalist Tim Cooper (wrote for British daily newspapers, own punk fanzine “Cliché”) prompted by the song “Butcher Boy” from the debut.
EnglishOnline
Positive review of the MIG box: CD 1–2 solo from the Bremen club Moments (1999), CD 3–4 with Michael Cosgrave (2004).
GermanOnline
Jaygee, who only discovered Leven around 2006 and never saw him live, recommends the 4-CD box Live or Die (radio recordings from Bremen, solo in 1999 and with Michael Cosgrave in 2004; attributed in the thread to Proper Records) as the “best bargain of the year”, with “Jim O'Windygates” and “Classic Northern Diversions” as highlights.
EnglishOnline
Epstein pays tribute to Leven as a great songwriter and storyteller who never played the same thing twice live; the two Bremen concerts (Club Moments, May 1999, solo; Sendesaal Radio Bremen, March 2004) prove it.
EnglishOnline
Hovenga praises Rankin's stylistically open compilation as a stimulating personal selection of music.
DutchOnline
Toppermost piece presenting Doll by Doll through ten selected songs, written by a fan who often saw the band and Leven as a solo artist live (short biography at the end: lives near Brighton).
EnglishOnline
One-minute clip from a chat stream by a record collector: he says that after the Doll by Doll records Leven had his larynx crushed in an attack, could never sing falsetto again, overcame his addiction and made around 20 folkier solo albums.
EnglishOnline
Agudo asks Ian Rankin about the relationship between rock music, his own writing and the character John Rebus.
SpanishOnline
Long essay by the Greek music critic Fontas Troussas introducing Leven to Greek readers by two routes: music and literature.
GreekOnline
TV portrait of about 24 minutes, according to the upload description an STV documentary, “ripped from my personal VHS recording” (uploaded 12 September 2018 by Ian Rodgers).
EnglishOnline
Jurek emphatically recommends the live album: he praises the recording quality, Leven's guitar playing and the immediate emotional impact of the solo performances.
EnglishOnline
Factual text on Concrete Bulletproof Invisible from the perspective of the Glen Matlock biography. The group came about because all members lived close to one another and drank in the same pub; first gig at a benefit concert at the Camden Palace for the bereaved of the late actor …
EnglishOnline
American webzine review that contrasts Leven's reputation in Scandinavia, Germany and Scotland with indifference in the USA.
EnglishWeb archive
The artist page of the London internet station NTS lists Leven tracks in shows such as “Plz Make It Ruins w/ Vegyn” (first on 28 February 2018) – the tracks played were “The Sexual Loneliness of Jesus Christ” and “Soft Lowland Tongue” (from “Control”).
EnglishOnline
Mocking pan of the US edition of Night Lilies (rating 5.1 out of 10). Sandlin credits the music with an earthy, 4AD-like atmosphere but accuses Leven of overloaded, sentimental, pseudo-literary lyrics, limited vocal range and uniform mid-tempo structures and spitefully compares him …
EnglishWeb archive
Besides the dedicated Leven threads, Leven turns up in passing in many Afterword discussions: in “Encore Etiquette” (14 July 2026) JustTim praises Leven for having made it clear there were no encores; in “Scotland – the home of the rain song?” (3 June 2026) “Another Man's Rain”, “The History of Rain” …
EnglishOnline
Extensive memorial page by a Trondheim fan (URL slug “til minne 1950–2011”, last edited on 30 November 2025).
NorwegianOnline
