He was the bass player of two of my favorite bands of all time, Gang of Four and Shriekback. I met him once, about a decade ago. He endured my embarrassing fanboying with grace.

"According to Burnham, Allen passed away at home with his family after enduring the early-onset of mixed dementia for some years."

Guitarist Andy Gill died of COVID in 2020, so now they are Gang of Two.

There is not a lot of decent video of Allen's era of the band, but watch these. And if you are not already well familiar with their albums Entertainment! and Sold Gold, rectify that.

Then came Shriekback, where early videos are also thin on the ground. If you've heard of them at all, you probably think they only have the one song, Nemesis, and while that's fantastic, Allen co-wrote their first five albums, of which they have just released the eighteenth! (Which I guess isn't quite out yet? I got the fundraiser version.) Moving on:

Post Shriekback, he started his own label and was a member of and produced several of the bands. Low Pop Suicide was great, too:

Previously, previously, previously.