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Many thanks to everybody who ordered the book over the Christmas and New Year period (especially a few people who then promptly re-ordered for friends!). I know I would have been delighted to find this under the tree (so long as it's not a tree like that on the Joyeux Noel cover below).  And don't forget we appreciate seeing feedback and comments on the book, so drop us an email.

 

 

And I know we're all trying to make sense of 2024 now but had to share one more Christmassy cover which didn't make the final Bizarre Sleeves book edit, this awful effort below from the Tijuana Brass mob. It's a UK cut and paste version of the American sleeve, but rather looks as if the poor trumpeter has managed to blow his piles out the end of his trumpet!  Ouch.

 

 

Sad to report Waterstones, the UK's only bricks and mortar book shop chain, has given the title a big thumbs down and will only get it for customers by special order.  I wasn't that surprised; one of our previous books sold nearly 5,000 copies and they refused to stock that as well.  Which is why we don't recommend them to people! 
For anyone looking for a decent online source (aside from our own online shop of course!) we like Hive.co.uk as a more ethical online retailer for books and dvds; they also donate to physical shops with every order you place. So for example the lovely second hand book shop in Buxton gets something for every order we place with them.

Around and about

 

There continues to be good coverage of the book, which seems to be popping up all over as word spreads. There was a nice review of the Worst Sleeves exhibition on Merseyside and a plug for the book on Planet Rock Radio's site written by a local lad Scott Colothan.  You can read a shorter version on our site (I've taken most of the sleeves out as you should be familiar with these by now!).  Great shot of the gallery too (below). To me the Williamson display (when I finally got to see it) was a bit mad in places, as they'd run sleeves so far up the back wall you really couldn't see them properly.  There were also strings of covers hanging from the ceiling which you just could not see at all. Steve says he had nothing to do with this! Apart from that it was great to see it all again with lots of new material, it's an ace building and was absolutely buzzing everywhere on the Saturday we were over.

For people in the North East, the sleeves move up to the Bailiff Gate Museum in Alnwick next, opening there on February 7th 2024 and running through into April. And if you do plan a visit there, add the amazing Barter Books at Alnwick Station to your "to do" list; but make sure you give yourself a couple of hours!
 

 

 

 

Steve and Simon have also been interviewed at length for a podcast called Art on Your Sleeve devoted to (surprise) album cover art, more details will follow. They also did an illustrated talk about the collection, looking in depth at a selection of the sleeves, on Jan 13 2024 at The Williamson. It was fully booked with over 70 people attending and great fun to share the stories behind selected covers with an attentive and knowledgeable audience.  Mind you, it did all descend into pantomime farce near the end (appropriate I guess given the season!) when their shiny new display screen threw a strop, so we played a game of spot the sleeve for the final half an hour!  And a cup of tea after a three hour drive might have been nice too...

Radio 4's arts programme Front Row covered the book and Steve's exhibitions on Nov 28th's edition of the show at some length. It was good to hear them focus on something other than the latest Disney film, and well worth catching up on just to hear the Radio 4 presenter trying not to corpse over some of the sleeves and their titles.  Steve has put the audio up (with subtitling) on his instagram feed: https://www.instagram.com/worstrecordcovers/

 

One aspect of the Front Row discussion was the lack of bizarre covers in more recent times. Certainly there are far fewer now but I suspect this mostly reflects the changes in the way music is accessed - it's not a record cover to me unless it has been issued physically.  But they do turn up. Check this bizarre christmassy Katy Perry cover, which I think well worth a place in Steve's collection if he can bring himself to buy it...  
 

 

But then he has just sourced a bizarre Ed Sheeran cover, so clearly knows no shame!  
After Alnwick, Steve will be exhibiting as much of his collection as he can at the Bearded Theory music festival which runs across 23 - 26th May (in the Midlands between Lichfield and Burton), so if that is on your diary be sure to seek him out.  Bradford have sadly had to cancel their planned exhibition booking due to refurbishment work but it may resurface next year.

 

 

 

Lastly we hope to have some exclusive Bizarre Sleeve Art promo t-shirts available soon, details next time.  It's not really the weather at the moment but no harm in thinking ahead!  Steve and Simon have also been booked for a BBC local radio interview scheduled for Easter too, which we will have more on anon.  There is also a new flick through promo video for the book on the way; it would have been done by now except Simon has mislaid (= lost) the adaptor for his studio lighting kit... !

 

Thanks to everyone for their interest 

 

Simon and Ann.

Easy On The Eye Books

 

EXHIBITION • Steve's next Worst Sleeves exhibition it will start at the Alnwick Castle gallery on Feb 7th 2024.  See our website for future dates.