I was not familiar with this Blockheads spin-off album, but when I spotted it felt the sleeve had to be by Barney Bubbles, so took a flyer on it at a recent flea market (the dealer reckons it’s a good album so look forward to listening to it, and it features one of the Weymouth sisters!). Chas Jankel had at the time of this release not long left the group. The sleeve lacked any design credit whatsoever and a trawl online couldn’t confirm my suspicions.
I finally found the sleeve hidden away on the Barney Bubbles instagram feed (whoever looks after it seems to have quit updating his website, which is a shame – Instagram is no use whatsoever for researchers). The cover dates from 1981 (though it looks more modern) and has the familiar BB trademarks (which is what drew me to it), all in a great pale colour scheme of grey, pink and black. I particularly like the way the album title letters swop around, level and angled in alternate colours.
It is just a single sleeve (no inner bag either), with more imagery on the back (the squiggles remind me of when you test a new felt pen out for the first time!), and credits for all the musicians overlaying a photo of Chas (see above). It was Chas’ second solo record (the first had a very minimal cover) but the only one done by Barney, though there was an accompanying single which he also did (below – again not credited) with a coat hanger forming part of the design. I got in touch with Chas and he said it was Ian Dury who recommended Barney for his sleeve to A&M who released this. Sadly it is also likely to be one of Barney’s last covers.
Amazingly in America they retitled the album, dropped Barney’s art and replaced it with their own cover (below) designed by Melanie Nissen. Maybe they were trying to make it more accessible visually for a relatively (over there) unknown musician.
Simon Robinson’s latest book The Art Of The Bizarre Vinyl Sleeve is out now published by Easy On The Eye Books
ST33 