NEWSLETTER exclusive to subscribers.
Hello again to Bizarre sleeve fans everywhere. Although the book has been out and about for a few months now, fun things are still happening so a few bits of news to pass on.
We have also now added the last four newsletters to the publisher's website if anybody wants to catch up; there are pictures not in the book on some and all sorts of snippets and links to explore. You can look at them online or download as PDFs to read in comfort.
There are still plenty of people catching up with the book and publications as diverse as The Sun and Photographica World are amongst the latest. Photographica World is - as you might imagine - a fairly high end (and subscription only) magazine which caters for people interested in the history of cameras and photographs, but they do try and range far and wide in their quest for interesting stories. Hence devoting a full page to the book in Issue 176, which concentrated on the photographic aspect of many of the sleeves. They declared the title to be "hugely enjoyable" and clearly got what it was all about.
At the other end of the reading scale was a full page in The Sun newspaper. Not a publication I normally have much to do with, but their in-house headline pun writer latched on to the Vietnam Chain and Ray Franky sleeves from the book (which depict dodgy spiritualist angles and poor toupees respectively), and came up with "Hex and rugs and rock and roll". Which we thought was pretty good, although I can't say we noticed a massive uptick in sales as a result of the feature!! Both reviews are on the publisher's website or use the links in this newsletter.
SECOND PROMO VIDEO
If you recall the last newsletter, in the end I had to order a replacement power lead.... If anyone out there is still undecided about the book we have finally got a new video up on the Easy Youtube channel, which is a quick romp through the pages of the title with suitably mad musical accompaniment (you should have seen Youtube's music AI trying to cope with that!) You can have a look here and do feel free to pass this on! That's a screengrab from the video above, Our first video is still up on the channel to watch.
FREDDIE LEARNS ABOUT SWASHES and when not to use them
Steve is still collecting of course and finding new covers all the time. This example above is one of our favourites, although it wasn't a cheap find (though when I checked there was a copy for sale at nearly three times what he paid for it, so look on it as an investment Steve!). As far as Freddie Gage was concerned it was likely seen as a suitable cover shot matching the very morbid album title, and given it is on one of those maudlin American religious labels, probably designed to tug at people's heart strings. But it made Steve laugh, it made us laugh, and is highlighted on many "worst sleeve" lists across the web. Steve has now also had the dubious pleasure of playing the LP and says it's little more than a 40 minute sermon riffing on the album title...
Shirt off our back
We did talk about some exclusive t-shirt designs last newsletter but came a real cropper with these; the printer decided to ban them all!! I wouldn't mind but this happened over a period of some weeks. The Roadstar cover with all those rabbits on was rejected almost straight away, suggesting some sort of peculiar AI censorship at work, and I expected them to rectify this after I queried it. But instead every time I went back, a couple more designs had gone. Until the other week, the only shirt left on the shop was our in-house Easy Books promo design. Which (smart as it is) I don't imagine many people would want! So it was back to the drawing board and in-depth discussions with another firm, and so far all the newly re-uploaded Bizarre designs remain live. We have ordered a couple of samples and will be in touch with details of these next newsletter once we have approved the service and tested the quality with a couple of cycles through the washing machine! It's a glamorous life at Easy Books.
ON DISPLAY
As promised last time Steve and his crew made it down to the Bearded Theory Festival in May and once they had got the tented display up it went as well as it always does. Check out a couple of visitors above clearly enjoying the fun (I think it was Richard Byrne who took this great shot) !
There are a few more upcoming dates for your diary if you want to see lots of these covers in the flesh as it were, and maybe bump into Steve in person and say hello. He adds new covers to each exhibition, and rotates others, so even if you have been before we can assure you there is always something new to marvel and smile at!
Confirmed dates : Fairly imminent, a display in association with the Halifax Comedy Festival for Oct 17-Oct 28 2024 which will be inside the Victoria Theatre.
The next big exhibition is at Warrington Art Gallery and Museum through the Christmas season and into the New Year, 18 October 2024 – 19 January 2025 [wmag.culturewarrington.org]. They are stocking the book in their shop for the duration and hosting talks by Simon and Steve, we will let you know date/s for these as soon as we can.
It then moves down to Northampton Museum and Art Gallery 4 May – 22 June 2025 [northamptonmuseums.com].
More bookings are being confirmed but have yet to be firmed up and we will bring you up to date next newsletter.
Norman Castle
One of the new finds which is likely to feature at some or all of these exhibitions is this gem, another very bizarre cover. First there is Norman Castle's (is that a real name?) cheesy Chris Tarrant impression to marvel at, then because the cover photo is so badly done it is only sometime later that you spot the skeletal hand creeping over Gill's left shoulder (her surname is never given), which from her look of horror and surprise makes you wonder where his other boney fingers are?
Talking of bad covers, I don't think we mentioned before that Simon was quizzed by Alex Hudson for US indie music magazine Exclaim, a feature called What Makes Bad Album Art Awful. They run a poll each year on the subject so were very pleased to find out about our book. You can now read this online:
Lastly
Before we sign off, a quick plug for our next music related title which is due any time, an amazing collection of archive photographs of legendary Blues musicians photographed mostly in Manchester during the early Sixties called
Boom Boom Boom Boom. Taken by a young fan with a camera, many of the images have never been seen before, and include rare coverage of shows at the famous Twisted Wheel Club, home of Roger Eagle's all nighters and birth place of the Northern Soul scene. Find out more here.
https://easyontheeyebooks.co.uk/forthcoming/boom-boom-boom-boom/
Thanks to everyone for their interest
Simon and Ann.
Easy On The Eye Books
