In 1977, Barney Bubbles created some
revolutionary covers and saw him
paying respect to constructivist and
modernist imagery with stunning
original results for Stiff Records.
Barney had a long artistic relationship with Ian Dury, designing various classic sleeves for both his singles and albums.
The most famous of his LP covers for Dury and the Blockheads was probably 1979’s Do It Yourself, which was released with 36 cover variations based on Crown Wallpaper!
His most prolific work was probably done for Elvis Costello’s releases, as he followed Costello & Nick Lowe from Stiff to Radar to F-Beat Records.
Even so, his work was not confined to those 3 labels as he was also active for Chiswick, Epic, a.m.o.
Barney had a very strong work discipline and took his assignments seriously, whether he could relate to the music or not.
Unfortunately, his private life was a rather different story (bipolar disorder and continuous financial problems didn’t help), and he took his own life in mid-November 1983...
Barney at times had disagreements with both record companies (especially for the US market!) and artists, e.g. Dave Edmunds wasn’t pleased at all with the back cover of his Tracks On Wax 4 album...
Barney had a long artistic relationship with Ian Dury, designing various classic sleeves for both his singles and albums.
The most famous of his LP covers for Dury and the Blockheads was probably 1979’s Do It Yourself, which was released with 36 cover variations based on Crown Wallpaper!
His most prolific work was probably done for Elvis Costello’s releases, as he followed Costello & Nick Lowe from Stiff to Radar to F-Beat Records.
Even so, his work was not confined to those 3 labels as he was also active for Chiswick, Epic, a.m.o.
Barney had a very strong work discipline and took his assignments seriously, whether he could relate to the music or not.
Unfortunately, his private life was a rather different story (bipolar disorder and continuous financial problems didn’t help), and he took his own life in mid-November 1983...
Barney at times had disagreements with both record companies (especially for the US market!) and artists, e.g. Dave Edmunds wasn’t pleased at all with the back cover of his Tracks On Wax 4 album...
Even so,
Barney’s design for Edmunds’ Twangin’
redeemed him completely!
The amount of work he produced was staggering, and this compilation only shows you the tip of the musical iceberg.
The amount of work he produced was staggering, and this compilation only shows you the tip of the musical iceberg.
I’ve done my best to present either an album or a single cover of each song represented here, and the 35-page PDF also gives more details about Barney's influences.
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As quite a few of the punk/new wave period Bubbles-related songs were already included in my previous Radar and F-Beat Records posts, I opted for some more obscure music, e.g. The Imperial Pompadours (Barney’s own band!), Elvis Costello in disguise, Laurie Latham’s band The Vampire Bats From Lewisham, and a Roger Chapman vinyl-only dub!
Besides the above, 1977-84 also features :
Ian Dury And The Music Students / Generation X / Graham Parker / Mick Farren & The Deviants / The Adverts / Big Star / Humphrey Ocean's Iron Hoof / Nik Turner's Sphynx / Whirlwind / The Sinceros / Clive Langer And The Boxes / Chas Jankel / The Inmates / The Damned / Dr. Feelgood / Inner City Unit / The Psychedelic Furs / Amazulu / Billy Bragg / Mercy Ray / Wang Chung
The 2 volumes (which easily could have
been 3, volume 1 posted yesterday for the 500niversary!) here give an adequate overview,
covering prog-rock, space-rock, folk, pub-rock, country-rock, punk, funk, new wave,
rockabilly, and more, enjoy!
Link: https://mega.nz/file/3R9SyTgQ#s0CV7bZHNXCIAa7xvEpIzpf9Ww11CXSWzSezerYb08U
ReplyDeleteQuestion: What's your favorite Barney cover?
Thanks Koen, DIY is great. Your Generation and Xitintoday and Space Ritual are my favorites from the ones I have myself.
ReplyDeleteI like the original cover of Elvis Costello's Armed Forces better than the elephants cover. The record is great too.
ReplyDeleteJ.
Thanks J. Actually there is a whole story behind the elephant (which was the original cover by the way!) design which you can read & view here: https://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2007/01/20/barney-bubbles-artist-and-designer/
DeleteYou are welcome Richard. I love the DIY album a lot but never felt compelled buying the other versions ;-)
ReplyDeleteBig fan of Colin 'Barney Bubbles' Fulcher whatever moniker he was using. You mentioned the Imperial Pomps, well I have shared Ersatz here (https://nathannothinsez.blogspot.com/2015/05/i-am-crusher.html) if anyone is interested, with a brief explanation about how the final release came to be. Thanks koen for these two volumes (especially the 35-page PDF).
ReplyDeleteThe Imperial Pompadours is a band very much worth reading about, and everyone should hear ERSATZ at least once! They were the UK's answer to The Uszniewicztones.
DeleteThanks Nathan, glad you like it (& the pdfs!)
ReplyDeleteExcellent work once again, Koen! Here's another list with examples of Barney's work (and references to the artists who inspired him):
Deletehttps://www.discogs.com/lists/Sleeve-Artists-Barney-Bubbles/5944
The above list mentions that Barney also directed videos: "Ghost Town" for The Specials and "Clubland" for Elvis Costello.
Thanks Jonder, that's a good list. The Barney Bubbles book goes into detail about his video work as well.
Delete