One of the joys of digging through second-hand shops, charity shops and antique centres is finding some seriously strange old vinyl records. Nestled amongst the crumbling Tom Jones, Mantovani or James Last albums you can often find bizarre offerings like these. Sarah is now becoming thoroughly tired of me charging past the racks of old tat to cry "Look at this!" and show her yet another horror show of an album cover, often featuring some deranged-looking "stars" of yesteryear. Quite often my main thought is "Who the hell thought this was a good look?" Anyway, Dear Reader, I hope you enjoy these vinyl vagaries from the fringes of good taste and sanity. The last one is dedicated to my old blog buddy, David Rose, of Gig Diaries fame - I never knew he had a recording career :-)
Soundtrack: New York by Lou Reed ( no, it didn't really fit... )
6 comments:
These are fantasticly awful. Truth be told I have been tempted to pick some of these type of albums up just to hear how bad (I assume there are no hidden gems here) they are. Fortunately I have resisted the urge. I suspect there will be a whole area of collectors who love these, and I see the perverse attraction to them. Actually my brother had that Dave Rose The Stripper album and it wasn't that terrible. My favourite cover is The World of Joseph Cooper L.P. I think that Decca series may have included The World of David Bowie which featured his early stuff like Uncle Arthur .
If you'll forgive me yet again being my usual pedantic self, The Most Happy Fella was a successful Broadway musical from the late Fifties and that fellow is the lead actor in his role as the main character, a sad and lonely guy who brags to his coworkers about a pen pal girlfriend he's never even met in person. (It's not a cheerful show.) I just wanted to mention that in case folks were looking at that title and that photo and wondering "why did they call it that, he doesn't look especially happy, in fact he looks like a real loser!" This is apparently the soundtrack album, though it's baffling the cover doesn't try to look more like an album from a Broadway show.
Wow, another post already Simon.
Interesting sleeves. I'm especially intrigued by the mystery and blandness of 'The Most Happy Fella', and Paul's got me more curious about the 'The Stripper' (who can resist a recommendation like 'it wasn't that terrible'?) but having already checked out a Wally Whyton lp based on your blog I've resisted the urge to find out if any of these are online anywhere.
Once bitten, and all that.
Still, its nice you making the most of your turntable...
-sean
*Still, its nice to see you making the most of your turntable...
Those one liners don't really come off properly when you mess them up in the edit. Duh.
-sean
That Taverners album reminds me of the back cover of Poison Idea's "Feel The Darkness". I guess Poison Idea must have been fans.
@Paul
"Awful" is indeed the word but still somehow strangely endearing. I haven't actually *heard* any of these albums but I doubt if they're for me. I've avoided looking any of these up on YouTube in case the algorithm floods my feed with more of the same:-)
@Richard
Don't worry about any possible pedantry, it's always good to hear from you. I did Google The Most Happy Fella and discovered that it was a successful musical but, as you say, that cover is baffling.
@Sean
I know, call me Mr. Prolific ;-)
I'm always rifling through second-hand vinyl so there may well be a second volume of regrettable record covers one day. Be warned...
@Mark
There's a definite resemblance to Poison Idea isn't there? I'll always remember the time we saw PI at TJ's in Newport and their singer jumped off the stage to throw a heckler out onto the street then just got back on and resumed the song. Remember? Ah, the good old days :-)
Great to hear from you, I hope you're well?
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