Interview: Paul Levinson

Repress of Paul Levinson’s Twice Upon a Rhyme LP

Paul Levinson’s private-press folk-psych album Twice Upon a Rhyme from 1972 was one of Shindig’s favourite rereleases of last year. The delicately crafted material was recorded two years before its appearance and features some excellent fuzz guitar amongst numerous other instrumental flourishes. The original repress has now sold out and The Sound of Salvation Records have pressed up a further special edition of 50 copies of the LP with new artwork on a deluxe screen printed cover. Austin Matthews caught up with Paul to comment.

SD: Have you been surprised by the reaction generated by the rerelease of the album?

PL: Logically, if someone had told me in 1970 that Twice Upon a Rhyme and its songs (while not becoming hits or even known by anyone other than a handful of people back then) would be getting such great reaction 42 years later, I would have said, well, that's science fiction. But yeah, for the most part I find the current response to the album astounding, mind-blowing, fantastic, while that part of me that's still 23 says: ‘See, I told so you.’

SD: Would you ever have predicted so long a shelf life of the album when it was first recorded?

PL: Would I have predicted that such a little-known album would have such a long shelf life? Well, I always hoped that someday someone like Anthony at The Sound of Salvation would somehow hear the album and bring it back out into the world, but would I have bet on it? Well...maybe I would. After all, better to bet on something you create and lose than never to have written and recorded at all.

SD: We love the album and are big supporters. Do you have any words for our readers?

PL: To Shindig! and its readers: you are the reasons I put all that effort into recording the album (writing the songs was easy) all those years ago. It was a lot of work and although I loved it, I was also doing it because I was hoping it would connect with some people out there. In the case of you, Shindig!'s readers, I hope the songs connect with you, and ring a chord across the decades.